The six winners of the North Rhine-Westphalia State Awards for the Arts and Crafts – Ursula Biskup, Kirsten Diez-Reinbeck, Cornelia Falk and Katrin Reinke, Klemens Grund and Katja Skoppek – received their prizes in Cologne on Saturday, August 22, 2015, from the Minister for Economic Affairs, Garrelt Duin, himself. In the presence of approximately 300 invited guests, he commented the ceremony as follows: “By conferring the manu factum State Awards, we aim to publicly recognize and sustainably promote the artistic potential of the arts and crafts.”
123 exhibits, covering the entire gamut from elegant furniture via a photo series to a textile installation or innovatively designed jewelry, are giving a representative overview of contemporary arts and crafts until October 11. Roos Arntz-van Doren, chairwoman of the North Rhine-Westphalia Artisans Association, observed an increased interest in the competition: 436 participants, as many as never before, had submitted their creations to be appraised by the jurors. Presented every two years since the 1960s, the Awards have been considerably enhanced as regards their status and have also been based on a new concept in 2015. So the applicants were able to submit their works in six categories: furniture, sculpture, jewelry, garments, media and home accessories. The awards, worth 10,000 euros each, were presented in five of the six categories (there was no award in the “media” category). The winners are:
Ursula Biskup
Ursula Biskup received the award in the “jewelry” category for a pair of earrings that skillfully wed a minimalist formal idiom to a sophisticated combination of gold and silk threads. With this innovative jewelry creation, this goldsmith and jewelry designer from Neuss has won the award for the second time since 1997. Click here to go to Uli Biskup’s profile on artaurea.com.
Kirsten Diez-Reinbeck
“The Ocean Within Me”, an installation created by the ceramist Kirsten Diez-Reinbeck in the “sculpture” category, is a poetic creation that presents the wave motif in various forms: text, shape and spatial arrangement. In particular, the jury commended “the accomplished combination of material and artistic idea”.
Cornelia Falk and Katrin Reinke
The patchwork artist Cornelia Falk and the photographer Katrin Reinke successfully submitted a joint creation in the competition’s “home accessories” category. This complex and multi-faceted object, a “symbiosis of photography and textile design” comprising two- and three-dimensional elements, is themed around structural change.
Klemens Grund
Klemens Grund submitted a pair of chairs crafted from solid oak wood in the “furniture” category. Comprising a chair and a matching foldable chair, this product family impressed the jurors with its elegant lines and the exquisite craftsmanship involved.
Katja Skoppek
The 25-year-old student Katja Skoppek won the award in the “garments” category for a conceptual creation, a large-format textile installation that is to be interpreted as a metaphor for the process of getting dressed.
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Museum für Angewandte Kunst Köln
An der Rechtschule
50667 Cologne
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