Many of you likely spent Friday and/or the weekend at the Vancouver Convention Center, taking in IDSwest and the related talks and seminars. While you were there, I hope you had a chance to stop by the Prototype booth to see the work of the twelve finalists in this juried design competition. As you know, I tagged along with the team of volunteer designers and organizers of Prototype throughout* the design process and build-out of the booth (read all about that here) so of course I had to document how it all came together.
*Editors note: I was actually only with the team a fraction of the time. These people worked their buns off for countless hours putting this together while I sat at my computer writing. Hardly back-breaking.
The booth turned out great and was a popular spot during the show. It seemed like there was a constant flow of people checking out the finalists, dropping their ballots for the people’s choice award, and even just hanging out in the booth space. Lead curator (and my Designer Happy Hour cohort) Julie Miller and her design team did a great job, as did all the volunteers who manned the booth all weekend long.
The twelve finalists were selected from over 50 entries by jury members; Bertjan Pot, Brent Comber & Omer Arbel, and displayed throughout the run of the show. Friday evening the jury gathered one more time to deliberate on the official winner of Prototype which was announced at the Living Space stage by Julie and Brent Comber.
Congratulations to Vick Yau and James Higgins of VanAir Design on taking home top honours with their Ventilated Door design. Their work was certainly a stand-out.
The win earned them a complimentary booth space at next year’s IDSwest show to help launch their product. Visit the VanAir website to learn more about the design and function of the door.
The ventilated door was developed to circumvent problems associated with ventilation in buildings. [The door] allows air to flow in and out of an enclosed space while shut by utilizing its core as an air channel, at the same time maintaining acoustic privacy.
The People’s Choice award went to Kalyca Ryan and Bram Sawatzky of Willow & Stump for their Ballast Nightstand.
The modular Ballast Nightstand accommodates a variety of styles and needs in the bedroom. The shelf can be adjusted within the hoop frame depending on bed height. The simple hoop stand leans against a wall, or small legs can be easily fitted to the frame to create a freestanding unit.
Congratulations to all the finalists and to the team who made this very first Prototype competition a reality. Hope to see it back again at IDSwest next year.
See Behind the Scenes of Prototype @ IDSwest to meet the design team and see pics of the whole thing coming together.