Dutch design duo Atelier NL has been named Designer of the Year while fellow Dutch studio Envisions has won Emerging Designer of the Year at Dezeen Awards.
Atelier NL founders Nadine Sterk and Lonny van Ryswyck won the Designer of the Year prize, which is given for "all-round design excellence over a body of work by an designer or design studio that has been in business for more than 10 years".
The Eindhoven-based pair have built up a body of work exploring the potential of locally sourced raw materials, including sand, soil and clay.
The studio has recently been collecting samples of wild sand from around the worldTheir Clay Service project has produced a range of ceramics that showcase clay varieties from different locations around the Netherlands. Meanwhile their recent project ZandGlass – for which they won the Homeware Design of the Year prize – saw them draw from their research into wild sand around the world to create a range of regionally specific glassware.
Atelier NL use this material to create their regionally specific ZandGlass glasswareThe jury praised the designers for the "consistent sensitivity throughout their work" and they way they concentrate on "local materials and responsible production practices whilst also maintaining a very high level of aesthetics throughout all their projects."
"They tackle ideas such as sense of place and geographic specificity successfully, making the ...