The winners of this year’s Basel Award design contest are Alexandra Schonenberger, Simone Stenger, and Keiko Shitaya. These winners, who were announced at the welcome party at the Basel show, will have their work sold for charity.

The winners were chosen from 10 finalists based on artistic design, feasibility of production and Surreal Appeal (the theme of this year’s contest). The proceeds of the sale will be donated to breast cancer research through Garland for Linda, the charity in memory of Linda McCartney.

The finalists, whose work was presented at Basel, were Anne Baus-Valton from BJO Formation, Paris; Maria Joao Clara, from the Contacto Director School of Jewellery, Lisbon; Fei Liu of the Birmingham Institute Art & Design, Birmingham, England; Kerstin Michaelsen, Fachhochschule Idar, Oberstein, Germany; Elisa Pastorello, Instituto Statale d’Arte Pietro Selvatico, Padova, Italy; Patricia Suard, BJO Formation, Paris; Alexandra Schonenberger, Ecole Superieure des Arts Appliques, Chaux de Fond, France; Simone Stenger, Instituto Europeo di Design, Milan; Laura Pistolozzi, Istituto Europeo di Design, Rome; and Keiko Shitaya, Mettallo Nobile, Italy.

 Each student was paired with a leading international design firm, which then crafted the pieces rendered by the students.

The partners were Carrera y Carrera, Chimento, Feeling, Golay, Leo Pizzo, La Nouvelle Bague, Picchiotti, Roberto Coin, Schoeffel, and Torrini.

JCK