knife block has won the 2007 VIVID Concept Award. Click Knife Block by South-Australian designer John Quan was commended for its simple, clever and useable idea that has been well-made and has instant market appeal. The Student Award winner went to ++ (plus plus) Children’s Furniture by New South Wales student Kana Todaka. Judges said the product was a slick, modern design of high quality that is easy to clean and has great potential for mass production. The Commercial Award went to the Gorjoso Chair by Sydney-based designer Liam O’Brien. Judges said it was well finished and comfortable and has excellent market potential.
The awards were presented at the Furnitex Decoration + Design exhibition held at the Melbourne Convention Centre in July. Also at the exhibition was Petite Rooms, with some of Australia’s design professionals developing a series of 12 inspired room settings that represented this year’s chosen theme, ‘About Time’. Designers were asked to create spaces according to one of the four sub themes — Ephemeral, Speed, Slow and Enduring. The Petite Rooms Awards for 2007 were awarded to: Most Innovative - Geoffrey Hatty from Geoffrey Hatty Applied Arts for his take on Speed with his black and white room, and the Editor’s Choice was won by Stewart Russell of Spacecraft for his library room, which was also inspired by the Speed theme. The next Decoration + Design exhibition will be held twice in 2008 — from February 6 to 8 in Sydney in conjunction with the Australian International Furniture Fair and in Melbourne in conjunction with Furnitex next July.
