SINGAPORE, July 1, 2007 /DesignSingapore Council/ -- DesignSingapore Council is pleased to announce the 7 finalists for Lightouch Design Competition 2007. The top seven finalists for Lightouch Design Competition 2007 have been invited to Singapore for a prototyping workshop from 6 to 12 July 2007 with Mr Joris Laarman, a designer from FLOS. Lightouch Design Competition an international lighting design competition organised by DesignSingapore Council in partnership with FLOS and supported by Space Furniture and Temasek Polytechnic.

The seven finalists were selected out of 939 total submissions following a rigorous judging process. The grand prize winner will be announced on 12 July 2007 at the Award Ceremony to be held at Space Furniture in Singapore. The top seven entries will be exhibited at Space Furniture for one week following the Award Ceremony.

The finalists from China, France, Italy, New Zealand, USA and Singapore were selected by an international jury panel. The entries came from 53 countries, with the highest number of submissions from China, Singapore and USA.

“We are extremely delighted to have received overwhelming response in this second series with close to 1000 entries for the competition, which has since established itself as a platform for sharing of ideas and design talent development. Entries were from all over the world and across a wide spectrum of participants from professional designers, student designers, and even high school students. The organisers would like to thank all participants for their creative efforts,” said Mr Edmund Cheng, Chairman of DesignSingapore Council and Jury of Lightouch Design Competition.

“Lightouch extends beyond an ideas competition. It is a collaborative platform between industry and designers to see the fruition of design ideas into manufacturable products. It presents an opportunity for overseas design talents to exchange ideas and network with the Singapore design community. We hope the finalists will have an engaging ‘design’ experience in Singapore while working on their prototypes here.” Dr Milton Tan, Director of DesignSingapore Council commenting on the final round of the competition.

Highlighting the work of the award winners, jury member, Mr Patrick Chia from Squeeze Design said of the work ‘Singing Bulbs’, “This design evokes a quiet charm without having to be ironic, clever or technologically sophisticated. Classy.”

Other entries were selected for manufacturability, which was one of the judging criteria. “The design is elegant and has an interesting twist; it has a huge potential to be produced and sold,” added Mr Bruno Rodella from FLOS on the entry ‘Hurdle Lighting’. Mr Kevin Jarrett another jury member, also Founding Director of Space Furniture Group added, “When judging such an event, we gave each one of the semi finalists a lot of discussion and even emotionally came to the best conclusion. I look at the products from a market perspective with potential sales, and I believe the finalists’ products will sell well.”

The grand prize winner of the Lightouch Design Competition will win a trip to Milan on business class and a learning tour to the FLOS factory, sponsored by FLOS. The winner of the first Lightouch Design Competition held in 2003, Stephanie Forsythe is currently developing lighting designs for FLOS as a result of the subsequent collaboration with FLOS.

This is the second in the series of Lightouch design competitions. The first, which was held in 2003, attracted 69 entries from countries in Asia, Europe, Australia and America.

More information on the Lightouch Design Competition is available at www.lightouch.org .


Jury Panel

Chaired by Edmund Cheng, Chairman of DesignSingapore Council

Bruno Rodella, FLOS S.p.A.
Joris Laarman, FLOS Designer
Kevin Jarrett, Founding Director of Space Furniture
Chan Soo Khian, Design Principal of SCDA Architects Pte Ltd
Patrick Chia, Design Director of the Design Incubation Centre of National University of Singapore and Founder of Squeeze Design


Finalists of Lightouch Design Competition

the way of light l living sculpture
Terence Woon, Singapore

Singing Bulbs
Zhili Lui, Shanghai, P.R China

Danaïd
Vidal Soler Thomas, Mouvaux, France

Emolight
Emily Louise Simonis, Davide Ratti, Alice Rizzo, Lucia Venino, Milan, Italy

Hurdle lighting
Sukwoo Lee, Dongjin Byeon, Seattle, U.S.A

1296
Caitlyn Sara MacKenzie, Napier, New Zealand

a_pluglight
Yap Hock Heng, Singapore

			a_plublight Yap Hock Heng, Singapore
			Hurdle Light Sukwoo Lee Dongiin Byeon USA

Source: DesignSingapore Council

CONTACTS:

Sophia Ang
rubix cube communications
23 Emerald Hill Road
Singapore 229305
T: +65 6735 5932
F: +65 6735 5732
M: +65 9694 5145
sophia@rubix-cube.com
www.rubix-cube.com

Eunice Hong
DesignSingapore Council
Ministry of Information, Communications & the Arts
T +65 6837 9869
F +65 6837 9686
140 Hill Street
5th Storey MICA Building,
Singapore 179369
eunice_hong@mica.gov.sg

Website: www.lightouch.org