National Design winners 2012 discuss innovation

On a rainy Monday night in New York City, a widely diverse array of designers piled into the Altman Building on West 18^th street to hear the honored winners of this year’s awards. As the guests tucked away their umbrellas and tuned in to listen, the honorees fastened in their seats on stage to speak of their success and inspiration in the creation of innovating design.

The design winners of this year’s event spread across a variety of spectrum and include:

• Lifetime Achievement: Richard Saul Wurmun
• Design Mind: Janine Benyus
• Design Patron: Red Burns
• Corporate and Institutional Achievement: Design that Matters
• Architecture Design: Mack Scogin, Merrill Elam Architects
• Communication Designs: Rebecca Mendez
• Fashion Design: Thom Browne
• Interaction Design: Evan Roth
• Interior Design: Clive Wilkinson Architects
• Landscape Architecture: Stoss Landscape Urbanism
• Product Design: Scott Wilson

Present at the Altman Building on October 15^th was New York City resident designers Breanne and Jeremiah Simpson of ‘Brejer Designs’. The married couple has found great success in the world of design, working to create bright and spirited designs that make the world more colorful and happy. Brejer’s singular design sensibility vividly mends sunny modernist sophistication with an old world charm, it can be found at Neiman and Marcus with their Montecito Table Design and Mission View with Robert Kaufman.

In the room was also Product and Exhibition designer and recent graduate at New York’s Fashion Institute, Diane Estabris from Lima, who spoke of her curiosity of getting involved in education through design and communication. Estabris’ passion is instilled on improving visitors’ experience by telling stories through narrative environments.

Rebeca Mendez winner of Communication Design stated: “The tiniest difference in the atmosphere can make you move differently. My mentor is the Earth. The wind, the currents, all that I do is keeping with the Earth, rather than against it.”

Flowing with the wind, winner of Design Mind, Janine Benyus recalled a time when her mentor Jane Jacobson called her on the phone, in regard to her fear of public speaking she remarked: “Get over it. Your life is changing so take a seat.” Benyus as an American natural sciences writer, innovation consultant, and author, says on innovation that, “I am inspired by the natural world and by factory tours. To see how things get sown together. Innovation is variation with selection that is rigorous and consistent.”

The two prevalent topics of the night’s discussion were having a mentor and the creation of innovating designs. Winner of Fashion Design, Thom Browne says, ‘My mentor is my Taylor who is still with me today. He always makes it clear that whatever you are going to do, do it well.” Furthermore Browne remembers, “I wanted something people loved or hated. I didn’t want to be down with it all, and that must be the stubborn Irishman in me.”

Product Design winner, Scott Wilson says, “I always had this intense desire to learn more when I hit the wall. You never know and you just have to keep your eyes open.”

Melissa DeGasperis

For further information on the Design Awards visit the official website here.