Qian Jiang wins Formex Nova 2017 Design Award as Nordic Designer of the Year

Formex, the Nordic design and interior show, held every two years in Stockholm, has been holding the Formex Nova Design Award for seven years to promote high-quality Nordic design among young designers. By 2017, five finalists had been selected, and the winner was announced at a ceremony and later party on 23 August: Qian Jiang is the new Nordic designer of the year.

This Prize goes to a young designer who is working in the Nordic region, and the winner will be selected by an expert jury. The 2017 jury consists of Lotta Lewenhaupt, journalist and author; Kerstin Wickman, professor in design history; Ewa Kumlin, President of Svensk Form; and Anders Färdig, founder and CEO of Design House Stockholm. The 2017 guest jury member is designer Mattias Stenberg.

The award includes an exhibition at the spring Formex, a sponsored activity up to a value of SEK 50,000 and a specially designed diploma, this year designed by Justin Boysen, Sweden.

Qian Jiang is 31 years old and graduated with a Bachelor's degree from Jiangnan University in 2008. He worked as an industrial designer at two design firms in Shanghai until 2011, after which he started a Master's degree in industrial design at Lund University. From 2012 to 2014, he worked as a furniture designer at two design firms in Copenhagen, Nicholai Wiig Hansen Studio and Normann Copenhagen. He is currently based in Stockholm, where he established Studio Dejawu in 2015 with a focus on the design of furniture and everyday items. The balance between function and aesthetics is important, and Qian Jiang always includes a story in his design - a feeling of unfamiliar familiarity that triggers the memory.

Design for Qian Jiang is like keeping a diary. It captures his memories of people and happy moments, documenting his experiences and investigating how they can be transformed into objects to which people can relate. The result becomes a capsule for the memory. He is energized by this approach and draws inspiration from memories and everyday experiences, in particular happy, invaluable childhood memories.

According to the Jury‘s assessment, Qian Jiang is an industrial designer - simultaneously poetic and functional. He masters the entire tool chest of a designer, but is never limited by this. His products demonstrate not only a clear awareness of form and a controlled playfulness, but also clever design.

The ceremony and later celebration of the Formex Nova Design Awards 2017 took place at the hotel At Six in Stockholm, considered the most “cool” hotel of the moment in the city. In it met the entire Swedish, Scandinavian design community and a major international representation.

Source: Formex
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