The ‘Next Syd Mead' and other winners
emerge as star student designers
view the full results here
FRANKFURT, 14 September 2011: As the doors closed on the final press day of the Frankfurt Motor Show, design students, media and top professionals from around the globe gathered at the renowned Cocoon Club to watch sponsors Peugeot and Volkswagen announce that the 2011 Interior Motives Student Designer of the Year is Felix Godard, from France’s Strate Collège.
 |
| Chris Bangle hosting the 2011 ceremony | 2011 winners: (from left) Ian Kettle, Adam
Phillips, Julliana Cho, Felix Godard,
Michael Canty, Marcello Basilio and
Kosin Voravattayagon | Peugeot's Amko Leenarts presenting
the Best Innovative Interior award to the
winner Liviu Tudoran |
“True genius” was the description of his work by Peugeot Interior Design Director Amko Leenarts. In fact Godard’s futuristic Metis Age concept scored a unanimous victory in the Best Artistic Visualisation category. It then went on to earn its French creator the accolade of overall Student Designer of the Year along with prize money of $5,500.
“It's been a long time since I've seen something so beautiful,” added Ford's Global Director for Interiors, Scott Strong, one of the other judges. “It challenges you to rethink the way we explore design.”
A strong contender for the overall title was Neuron, by Ian Kettle from the UK’s Royal College of Art. His innovative exploration of brain-machine interface technology – winner of the coveted Best Conceptual Interior award – was called “just irresistible” by Citröen’s Head of Advanced Interior Design, Andreas Stump.
Another major hit with the judging panel was Liviu Tudoran’s wildly inventive Fractal concept, whose interior changes shape and colour according to need. It was called “a new interior concept – one that realises maximum complexity in a simple way” by Wolfgang Müller-Pietralla of Volkswagen’s Future Research department.
Other winning entries include RCA student Adam Phillips with his superbly executed Group Dynamics design study, which took a fresh new look at interior ergonomics, and Diet Mini by last year’s Student Designer of the Year Kosin Voravattayagon, which netted its creator the Best Production Interior Award for the second year in a row. Also carrying off individual awards were Julliana Cho’s striking electric commuter car Memory Piece, X-AVR by Michael Canty of the USA’s Academy of Art, and Da Vinci by Marcello Basilio of the Istituto Europeo di Design (IED) in Italy.
This year is the 9th annual Interior Motives Student Design Awards. For full details of the winners, finalists and shortlisted entries – including images of all the finalists’ work – click here. A full report of the 2011 awards ceremony is available on Car Design News here.
 |
Judges chatting with students on the night
|
ABOUT THE AWARDS: Hundreds of entries from dozens of schools
Design briefs The theme of the 2011 competition was 'Back to Basics – Making Cars for People, Not Markets', and four briefs were set by Volkswagen and Peugeot against which students were asked to work.
Selecting the shortlist From hundreds of entries from dozens of design schools across the globe, the shortlist has been made up of all the designs which received at least one vote from one judge. The judges worked individually in the quiet of their own studios in their various locations in different parts of the world. The identity of the works they reviewed was hidden behind an ID number, so that images and, often crucially, the explanation, are all that could be assessed. The all-star judging panel then gathered in London to debate the winners through an intense round-table judging session. View this year's full results.
Down to sets of three In each of the Awards categories, the three shortlisted entries with the most votes have become the finalists. Each of the finalists, and a friend, will be invited to attend the Awards Ceremony in Frankfurt on 14 September 2011. The Awards night will have the work of all the finalists on display, and will see the cream of the professional design community mix with the excitement of the students.
The winner is... The winner in each category will be announced, and a trophy and cash prize awarded. And then, as the ultimate accolade, one of the winning designs will be revealed as the overall Interior Motives Student Design of the Year. View last year's winning designs
Prizes will be awarded in the following categories:
A successful start to a career Many of the competition judges and the other senior designers who attend the Awards Ceremony make no secret of the fact that they are looking for new talent. They consider the Interior Motives Design Awards to be a significant opportunity to identify and make contact with potential employees.
 |
Photos from the 2010 ceremony
|