Winners of Plascon Colour Design Awards

12 Aug 2016

Now in its third year, the Plascon Colour Design Awards promote creative thinking and making the world better using colour. This year's competition called for South African students of architecture and interior design to create a design that would uplift an existing school or educational institution building using Plascon's Inspired Colour range, under the theme #ColourCan.

Shani Bijleveld

Shani Bijleveld, a first year student from Design Time School of Interior Design in Cape Town was officially announced as the winner at 100% Design, held at Gallagher Convention Centre in Johannesburg this week. Her design used Oranjekloof Moravian Primary School in Hout Bay, Cape Town, as a canvas and incorporated bold shades of orange and blue including Atlantic Beach, Plascon’s Colour of the Year for 2016. The vibrant complementary colours were used in patterns inspired by Xhosa beadwork, thereby acknowledging the cultural heritage of the majority of learners at the school.

Second and third place went to Athena Strates and Janine De Bruin respectively, who are also students at Design Time.

“The Plascon Colour Design Awards are centred on creative thinking and making the world better through the use of colour,” says Anne Roselt, Plascon’s global colour manager and the driving force behind the awards. “We know that creative thinkers – like our winners – have the power to change the world for the better and we’re also big supporters of budding design and architectural talent. We asked the participants to reimagine a space using our range of colours. The main aim was to make the space inspiring and empowering for the learners or students.”

Two rounds of judging

Bijleveld’s winning design was chosen from among 120 entries received - over 40 more entries than the previous year.

“Due to the large number of entries, there were two rounds of judging with each judge explaining why they thought a particular entry should be shortlisted,” adds Roselt. “One thing was unanimous: the standard of entries this year was outstanding!”

The judging panel consisted of:

Anne Roselt, global colour manager at Plascon
Sumien Brink, editor in chief of VISI, Plascon Spaces magazines and New Media Books
Leana Schoeman, editor of Sunday Times Home Magazine
Jodi Robertson, director of International Trend Institute (ITI)
Samantha van den Berg, organiser of the Plascon Colour Design Awards
Laurence Brick, MD of Platform Creative Agency and creative director of 100% Design South Africa
Up and coming interior designer, Donald Nxumalo

Prizes, public exposure

As her prize, Bijleveld wins a trip to London Design Week 2016, which runs from 17 to 25 September, valued at R40,000. Strates and De Bruin, the two runners-up, will each receive cash prizes of R5,000. In addition, the top three students also receive R5,000 each for their educational institution.

Recognising the value of public and media exposure for students, who constitute South Africa’s next generation of industry professionals, the designs of the top 20 finalists were showcased in a dedicated display at 100% Design South. The top six entries will also be featured in the upcoming issue 21 of Plascon Spaces magazine.

The Plascon Colour Design Awards grew out of the previous Plascon Prism Awards, which Plascon supported for several years. These awards demonstrate Plascon’s ongoing commitment to further the architectural and design industries. For more information, go to www.plasconspaces.co.za.