Caesarstone’s Student Designer of the Year

In its 10th year, the Caesarstone Student Designer Competition crowned it’s 2017 winner Marli de Wet, with an all expenses paid trip to the international design fair of her choice, for both her and her lecturer!

Known for being passionate about design, original quartz surface manufacturer Caesarstone South Africa announced the winner of its prestigious, annual Student Designer Competition of 2017 at The Youngblood Gallery in Cape Town. It is safe to say that dreams were made and design boundaries were broken.

The concept of the brief for this year’s competition was ‘Boosting Africa’s economy through creativity’ and looked at how architecture can empower our cultural and creative industries, which was conceptualized by Mphethi Morojele, Director of MMA Design Studio. With participation from most design institutions nationwide, submissions reflected the perfect harmony between sustainability, creativity and functionality.

Each year South African design students compete for not only the prestigious title but the opportunity to experience the highest level of design from international fairs such as Salone del Mobile and Eurocucina in Milan, Maison&Objet in Paris and IMM in Cologne. The finalists also have the chance to launch their career as their submissions get presented to the countries leading design experts.

To date, three of the 9 finalists have been interviews for positions in local design firms. The final set of entries showcased in Caesarstone’s 10th annual Student Design Awards ceremony unearthed the dynamic innovations of South Africa’s future design landscape. Students excelled in honing their acquired design skills to create innovatively designed spaces and carefully curated ideas. The esteemed judges came to the final decision after a full day of judging and deliberation.

The judges where: Stefan Antoni of SAOTA, Jonathan Anstey of Anstey Architect, Mphethi Morojele of MMA Design Studio and Dorothy van’t Riet of DVR. The Caesarstone Student Designer of 2017 announced was Marli de Wet, a student from Design Time school of interior design, and the winning lecturer was Anel Joubert. They will both be making their way to the international design fair of their choice. The prize, handsomely valued at R100 000, includes all expenses and hopes to open new doors of creativity and opportunity. A cash prize of R15000 was awarded to 1st runner up, Hsu Yi Hua from BHC School of Design. His lecturer was Marga de Vos. 2nd runner up position was awarded to Carolynn Innes also from Design Time School of Interior Design, who received a R5000 cash prize. “I’ve never enjoyed a brief like this before – it meant a lot to me that it had a lot to do with helping people, and a real-time growth in our economy and not just something that looks good.

” Winner, Marli de Wet. “The emerging design talent is an inspiration for the industry and this year the entries set a new benchmark. The thought processes and respective applications stretch beyond the expected work of tertiary design students.” commented Trevor King, Marketing Director of Caesarstone.

Contact: Caesarstone