Consumables

And then there were seven

Thursday 08. March 2018 - Bright Young Things Take Hackney finalists announced in MACTAC X ARTSTHREAD design competition

Seven outstanding finalists from a field of 330 have been selected in the “Bright Young Things Take Hackney” graphic design competition, sponsored by Mactac in Europe in collaboration with Arts Thread, Mactac announced today. The shortlisted seven finalists will now travel to London for the next stage of the competition, which will culminate in the winner’s work being exhibited in a towering display at Hackney Walk, a luxury retail destination in East London.
The finalists are Karen Sung (Royal College of Art), Ana Carolina (Central Saint Martins ual), Melanie Edwards (University of Leeds), Linea Matei (Konstfack University College of Arts Crafts and Design), Or Eidelman (Shenkar College), Eva Davidova (Central Saint Martins ual), Ester Alonso (Leeds Arts University).
Judges—who had their work cut out for them, given the number and quality of entries—included British fashion designer Christopher Raeburn; British-American designer Mimi Wade; Jack Basrawy, Chairman of Hackney Walk; Angus McGuffin, global creative director for Avery Dennison; and Thorsten Traugott, Managing Director of Coloro, which makes a colour system used by fashion and textile designers.

Launched in December 2017, Bright Young Things Take Hackney was open to 2016/2017 graduate artists and designers and to students studying art and design in Europe, including Turkey, Cyprus, Russia, Ukraine and Israel. Entrants were asked to create a high-impact, large-scale display for exterior retail walls, explained Angus McGuffin, global creative director for Avery Dennison.
“This competition gives young artists and designers a chance to showcase their work on a huge, architectural canvas, were their ideas can connect with millions of people,” said Avery Dennison’s McGuffin. “Large and colourful displays have enormous power for brand messages. Graphic materials are used across retail to grab consumers’ attention, so we wanted to celebrate and dramatically showcase the creativity enabled by those materials and the sheer impact of giant, colourful graphics. At the same time, we wanted to provide an opportunity for emerging artists and designers. It has been fascinating and inspiring to see what students did when they had a two-storey high canvas available to them.”
In phase one of the contest, entrants were asked to upload 2D artwork that would capture attention on a wall in a prime retail location, with an emphasis on colour as an arresting and differentiating element. Now the seven finalists will travel all-expenses-paid to London, where they’ll work with teams from Mactac and Hackney Walk and receive the design brief for the next phase of the competition.
“We’ve organized a one-day workshop at Hackney Walk to give participants an understanding of the Hackney area, and the context for which their work should be designed. They’ll also get hands-on experience with Mactac products, so they can understand the performance advantages and design flexibility that those afford,” explained McGuffin. The finalist’s work from the workshop will be exhibited at the end of the workshop in a private viewing, to be attended by various industry influencers and media contacts.
Said Hackney Walk’s Jack Basrawy, “We are re-energizing an area with unmistakable historical links to the fashion industry, and therefore we are very excited to be part of this project, supporting new and emerging designers to be part of the future of the experience at Hackney Walk.”
Finalists will also benefit from working with our design and large format print partner, Onward Display, along with our installation partner GESS, gaining insights into the practical aspects of graphic design through to print and final application / installation.
The winning work will be selected by the judges in May, and displayed prominently at Hackney Walk, where it will be seen by millions of people in person and across social media. All shortlisted finalists’ work will be displayed at the Avery Dennison and Mactac booth during FESPA 2018 (Berlin, 15-18 May, 2018), the largest international trade show for large format printing.