Designers’ Nest Award Show 2021 has just been broadcast on the digital platform of Copenhagen Fashion Week. The show featured outstanding graduate work by the following ten finalists who are all graduates from Nordic design schools:
Belinda Rasmussen – Royal Danish Academy
Emma Gudmundson – Swedish School of Textiles
Elina Äärelä – Aalto University
Idaliina Friman – Aalto University
Ines Kalliala – Aalto University
Kristian David – Swedish School of Textiles
Monika Colja – Swedish School of Textiles
Robin Söderholm – Beckmans College of Design
Sara Sofie Tallaksen – Oslo National Academy of the Arts
Jury statement:
The 2021 winner of Designers’ Nest has designed a collection that impressed the jury on several levels: with visually striking silhouettes, accomplished tailoring, an elegant grasp of historic references and multifaceted fashion commentary. The collection is a thoughtfully executed take on making the impractical practical: taking its point of departure in Friman’s great grandfather, who had to flee a comfortable life of privilege during the Finnish civil war and establish a new life completely alone in Lapland, it imagines a 19th-century noblewoman undertaking a similar journey.
Victorian grandiosity is seen through a lens of dressing for survival in the harshest temperatures, creating a tight angle on theatre versus practicality – a kind of time travel, where technologically advanced materials and utilitarian details cleverly rephrase the fin de siècle. In addition, Friman has taken a considered approach to work with recovered and recycled materials, showing a sensibility and awareness fitting of today’s society and the responsibility we as an industry have towards the environment.
Idaliina Friman wins 50.000 DKK as early support of her work, a study trip to UEDA College of Fashion in Osaka, Japan, and a ceramic artwork created by Danish artist Karl Monies.
The internship at Bottega Veneta in Milan is offered to Arttu Åfeldt, a BA-graduate of Aalto University.
In collaboration with the Swedish Art Museum, Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde, the joint Exhibition Prize goes to:
Kristian David, BA-graduate of the Swedish School of Textiles
Elina Äärelä, MA-graduate of Aalto University
Ines Kalliala, MA-graduate of Aalto University
Idallina Friman, BA-graduate of Aalto University
The four designers will be featured in the exhibition Future Nordic Fashion, co-curated by Ane Lynge-Jorlén and Philip Warkander in collaboration with Prins Eugens Waldemarsudde.
The designer selected by Ida Petersson, Womenswear and Menswear Buying Director at Browns Fashion, will develop a sustainable collection for the retailer in collaboration with the The Bear Scouts and will be announced shortly.
All finalists receive a profile on the Paris-based platform Eyes on Talents that connects emerging designers with the establishment.
Designers’ Nest is supported by The Danish Arts Foundation, The Nordic Culture Fund, Kronprins Frederik og Kronprinsesse Marys Fond, Beckett-Fonden, Danmarks Nationalbanks Jubilæumsfond, Tuborgfondet, Clara Lachmanns Stiftelse and CIFF.
Members of the 2021 jury
Susanne Madsen, Fashion writer and Writer-at-large at Dazed
Mariasole Pastori, Talent Acquisition Expert at Bottega Veneta
Ida Petersson, Buying Director at Browns Fashion
Anders Sølvsten Thomsen, Stylist and creative consultant
Ane Lynge-Jorlén, Director at Designer’s Nest
