Jens is Leader of the FlatPack! Versatile Flat-Pack Table Scoops Top Student Design Award
30th April 2009
 Jens Kosak, winner of the House & Home / CCoI
Student Design Awards, 2009
An adjudication panel that included furniture designer Stevan Hartung, interior designer Milo Fitzgerald, Dunnes Stores homewares buyer Roisin O’Brian, Louise Allen, Education & Awareness Manager with the Crafts Council of Ireland and House and Home magazine publisher Karen Hesse lauded the product for its versatility and simplicity of design as an inexpensive piece of furniture for the modern home. “This is a very pared-back, mature design for a student. It’s extremely well thought-out”, commented award-winning furniture designer Stevan Hartung while Dunnes Stores homeware buyer Roisin O’Brien added, “It is a good product for smaller houses and it’s extremely easy to assemble. It would translate well to an extended range, including occasion tables”.
Jens, who is originally from Germany, beat off stiff competition from four other finalists to take the top prize of a cheque for €1,000, a trip to a design fair most suited to his design discipline, mentoring and support and a glass trophy designed by Michelle O’Donnell of Glasshammer Designs. The other finalists were: Rory Brown, a second year furniture design, production and enterprise student from South West College, Omagh Campus, who created a chair that takes from the style and scale of a chaise longue to mimic a human spine; Colleen Sands, a third year student of interior design in Coláiste Dhulaigh, Coolock who produced a Helix table light made from thermal plastic honeycomb; Zbigniew Strzebonski, an apprentice furniture maker with Wedge Design, Dublin who designed a chair from polished stainless steel, birch plywood and walnut veneer and Ciara O’Sullivan, a ceramics student in Limerick School of Art and Design whose decorative set of bowls conveyed a strong sense of the sea.
The Student Design Awards were established by House and Home magazine in 2004 to promote commercial design as a viable career choice and best practice amongst young Irish designers. Design students around the country were invited to design and produce an interiors-related product that is contemporary, innovative, functional, affordable, commercial and suitable for commercial production under this year’s theme of ‘Future Classics’. In a new departure for the five-year competition, the Crafts Council of Ireland partnered with House and Home magazine as the principal supporter this year of the student design initiative.
Eimear Nic an Bhaird, editor of House and Home magazine commented: “It’s always so exciting to see the students’ designs, and this year really proved that imagination and creativity are in plentiful supply when it comes to home product design in Ireland. These pieces show that indigenous Irish design has an extremely bright future. Our homegrown style is clearly up there with the best of international talent when it comes to creating products that are attractive, practical and user-friendly – perfect for the modern home.”
“The work of Jens – and indeed of all the five finalists - is a testament to the craftsmanship of today’s emerging designers, whether they use cutting-edge materials or traditional skills. I’m delighted to see furniture feature so much and colleges like GMIT in Letterfrack, where Jens is a student, are really promoting this discipline. I hope this competition will encourage other aspiring designers to consider craft as a career”, said Úna Parsons, CEO, The Crafts Council of Ireland.
ENDS
For reference:
Alma Feeley, Midas PR, Mob: 087 8204934
Eimear Nic An Bhaird, House and Home magazine, Mob: 086 3852338
Susan Brindley, Crafts Council of Ireland, Mob: 087 8595013
To download the Press Release click here: www.ccoi.ie/press/index.php
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