Caesarstone Announces Finalists in 2015 Student Design Competition

After a full day of judging at The 12 Apostles Hotel & Spa in Camps Bay by an independent panel of top South African architects and interior designers, Caesarstone is proud to announce the 9 finalists of the Caesarstone Student Designer 2015 competition.

This year’s competition brief was conceptualised by Stefan Antoni and named, A Space for the Soul, A Place for the Senses. Antoni invited architecture and interior design students to respond to the brief that was inspired by Juhani Pallasmaa’s book, The Eyes of the Skin, where students had to create a space that was a haven for the soul – a multi-sensory place to get away from the hyper-stimulation of modern living. Stefan Antoni comments, “You get so many competitions around the world that are for big buildings and complex briefs, but so often it’s the small beautiful thing that takes the most amount of soul and thought to actually create something special.”

Impressed with the standard of entries in this year’s competition, the judges admitted to having heated discussions, “We were very pleased with our top finalists this year,” says Dorothy van’t Riet of DVR Interior Design & Décor Consultants – a longstanding judge in the competition and the writer of the competition’s 2016 brief. “We have definitely seen a moving forward in the students’ responses, which we’re very pleased about,” she says.

Jonathan Anstey of Anstey Steynberg International says, “While it was easy to select the top 9 finalists, it was neck and neck between the top two designs, but we managed to come to consensus in the end. I’m very much looking forward to the announcement of the top three winners at the awards in Johannesburg,” he says.

Lisa Younger, a senior designer for Activate Architects enjoys the competition because it encourages young designers to think in a more integrated way about interior design and architecture, “Working in the design world demands the ability to collaborate and work with designers from different fields,” she says. “Both interior designers and architects need to learn how to appreciate and utilise one another’s abilities, and I think this competition promotes that thinking”.

A panellist for several years, this competition marks Greg Wright’s final year as a judge, “I’m sad to be leaving the competition, but delighted to have been a part of seeing a very exciting year’s entries”. Greg Wright will be replaced by lauded Cape Town architect, Luyanda Mpahlwa of Design Space Africa.

Trevor King, Caesarstone South Africa’s marketing director, is proud to be investing in design student development in the country, “This competition is not just about branding. It’s an opportunity for students to get their work exposed to some of South Africa’s top design professionals. For many years of the competition’s history, the winners have been offered jobs with top design firms on the very night of the awards, which makes this an exciting event to be a part of.”

King continues, “As with every year, Caesarstone is proud to be involved with such a high calibre of judges and design institutions and we are looking forward to the awards ceremony in Johannesburg next week”.

The Caesarstone Student Designer 2015 awards take place next week in Sandton, where the 9 finalists will be awarded certificates and the top three winners will be announced live. The first place design student and their lecturer will be a trip to an overseas design fair of their choice, worth R80,000, while the second and third place winners will receive R10,000 and R5,000 respectively.

Caesarstone is proud to announce the Caesarstone Student Designer 2015 competition finalists (in no particular order):​

The Caesarstone Student Designer 2016 competition brief, as conceptualised by Dorothy van’t Riet, will be launched at the awards ceremony.​