Hublot has named the winner of its annual design prize as Christophe Guberan, an industrial designer who graduated from ECAL University of Art and Design graduate before crossing to the United States where he has continued his work at MIT University since 2014.
Mr Guberan received a prize of CHF 100,000 from Hublot CEO Ricardo Guadalupe at a ceremony this week.
Speaking at award ceremony, Mr Guadalupe expressed his passion for design and pushing the boundaries of art in horology and the wider world.
“The difference between talent and success means always going further, exploring that extra mile that crowns unique destinies —the alliance of perseverance, passion and good momentum. The Hublot Design Prize transforms talent and creativity into success . By encouraging and promoting the next generation of designers and the innovation of the future, Hublot plays the role of a mentor, passing onto others what it has itself received,” he said.
The full list of awards is:
The Winner: Christophe Guberan, 1985, www.christopheguberan.ch
An ECAL graduate, an industrial designer, he has developed between Switzerland and the United States and has been working with MIT since 2014. Winning prizes from the Leenards Foundation and the Ikea Foundation in 2013, his work was awarded by Creative Applications in 2012. His signature is the experimentation and observation of material and its interactions.
Melanie Georgacopoulos, 1979, www.melaniegeorgacopoulos.com
A Royal College of Art graduate, a Greek-French jewellery designer, whose studies at the Mokume Institute in Athens (gold/silver smithery) and at the Edinburgh College of Art (sculpture) created the style of her work.Her signature is combined passions, metal and pearls that she sculpts in an innovative and anti-conformist fashion.
Sebastian Herkner, 1981, www.sebastianhernker.com
An Offenbach University of Art and Design graduate, he founded his studio in 2006 after having worked with Stella McCartney in London. His work won the German Design Award in 2011 and the EDIDA Award in 2015. In 2016, he was the Guest of Honour at imm Cologne. His signature is enhancing function, material, details and colours, and fostering their interaction.
Yota Kakuda, 1979, www.yotakakuda.com
A Royal College of Art graduate, he has collaborated with the Shin, Tomoko Azumi and Ross Lovegrove studios, and worked for the MUJI brand before founding Yota Kakuda Design in 2011. A multiple award winner, his work has, in particular, received the iF Design Award in 2015 and the Good Design Award in 2014. His signature is his passion for the elegance of everyday objects. As a collector of antique objects, he applies today’s perspective to yesterday’s techniques or objects with a disconcerting simplicity.
Ifeanyi Oganwu, 1979, www.expand-design.com
An architect and designer born in Nigeria, he lives and works in London. He studied architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology, the Architectural Association of London and Columbia University. He has collaborated with the offices of John Ronan, Zaha Hadid, Hussein Chalayan and Adams Kara Taylor. He founded Expand Design in 2008. His signature is the continuous search for the correlation between history, basic materials and new production techniques.
Felipe Ribon, 1982, https://feliperibon.com
A graduate of ENSCI-Les Ateliers, and a Franco-Colombian designer, he has collaborated with the Bouroullec Studio, and continued his studies at the Villa Medicis and today at the Villa Kujoyama in Japan. In 2009 he won the Design Parade Audience Prize, the Best of the Best Red Dot Design Award and the Paris Grand Prix de la Création; in 2015, as part of a duo, he won the 16th Liliane Bettencourt Prize. His signature is formal and technological expertise and an experimental dimension applied to the search for wellbeing.
