Zelma Balode from Glasgow School of Art beat thousands of students to win the first of two coveted Colour in Design Awards (CIDA) which are being presented at the New Designers show this year.
The annual awards champion the outstanding and innovative use of colour in design demonstrated by recent graduates and are supported by the team at Dulux Trade.
The judges at the show said Balode, 21 from Glasgow, was chosen for her amazing textiles and innovative use of colour to create unique designs inspired by the architecture of buildings she discovered on a trip to Belgium.
Alongside the accolade, Balode unlocks £1000 cash and will be mentored by award founder Marianne Shillingford, the Creative Director of Dulux UK alongside a raft of industry experts.
The Colour in Design Awards is a charitable enterprise which was created by Marianne, who uses a legacy from her late father to help new designers find success in their field of creativity. Colour is at the heart of the award because she believes that colour is in her blood.
Marianne said: “I was lucky enough to grow up on the biggest rose nursery in the UK surrounded by living colour and my job as Creative Director of Dulux is still infused with colour. My dad understood the power of colour to change the way we respond to the world around us and how it unlocked the hidden potential in everything. He would have been thrilled to know that our shared passion for colour is supporting a new generation of creative talent.”
Dulux Trade is supporting CIDA for the third year and has offered materials, coaching and expert advice for the winners and runners-up in the two previous years.
Synnita Cunningham, Senior Brand Manager at Dulux Trade, said: “The award recognises that colour is one of the most fundamental elements of design, with the power to profoundly influence how we feel about a space, textile or piece of art. We saw a fantastic variation in use of colour throughout New Designers this year, with a great many students interpreting our global ColourFutures™ 2019 trend palette, Act as the basis for their specific designs. The spirit of the Act palette encourages dynamism and initiative-taking, and this marries perfectly with our objective of helping architects, specifiers and designers to create lasting change, using colour to create environments that have a positive impact on occupants within those spaces.”
Marianne Shillingford, Creative Director at Dulux and Colour In Design Awards winner, Zelma Balode
Last year’s winner, Laurent Peacock, said lots of “exciting things” had happened since he won the award – including his “first proper exhibition as a new designer.”
He added: “The award gave me the confidence to broaden the way in which I market my experimental surfaces and consider new applications.
“Since then, I’ve had discussions with some exciting commercial clients about options for using the materials in their retail settings.”
The other 2018 CIDA winner, Dianne Bresson, said: “Colour is essential to my work. I first started printing with a few colours and then played around by mixing printed artworks with digital and projections. I recorded new combinations of colours and gradients with photos and videos that I then translated back into screen printing.
“I prefer printing without a precise plan and improvise along the way with stencils and patterns. Many things that I thought were mistakes ended up being interesting visual effects.”
Dianne’s advice to this year’s winners would be “the earlier you manage to set a few goals, the better. Jump on every opportunity – you never know what might come out of it, and don’t hesitate to take risks!”
A second winner will be announced at the show on Thursday 4 July for their work in the field of product engineering and colour.
New Designers is a launch-pad for creative talent and, over two weeks, brings together 3,000 of the brightest design graduates selected from over 170 creative courses and representing every area of design and making.
More information on the Colour in Design Awards can be found at www.colourindesignaward.org and more information on Dulux Trade at www.duluxtradepaintexpert.co.uk.
