Meet the first jury members for the new edition of the Archiproducts Design Awards
Gallerist Nina Yashar, architect Manuel Aires Mateus and interior designer Kelly Wearstler are among the jurors for the Archiproducts Design Awards 2023.
Manuel Aires Mateus, Kelly Wearstler, Nina Yashar
Now in their eighth year, the awards, promoted by Archiproducts, are among the most important recognitions for global brands and designers.
The competition is now open and brands can register to compete for the prestigious title of winner. Entries will be judged by an international panel of experts with diverse backgrounds.
The ADAs aim to offer a privileged view of the encounter between designers and manufacturers, creativity and innovation, and the synergies that go into creating objects.
Nina Yashar on the jury of the Archiproducts Design Awards 2023
Gallerist, publisher, patron and curator Nina Yashar was born in Tehran and moved to Milan as a child. She brings with her an innate curiosity and a cross-cultural background that permeates her worldview. The daughter of a carpet dealer, Nina Yashar always felt the need to emancipate herself, which led her to open a gallery in via Bigli in 1979.
Nina Yashar. ph. © DSL Studio
Initially, the pieces she sold were a selection of carpets from her father’s archive. She says, “I wanted to choose something you couldn’t see in traditional shops, so I chose all the carpets with floral motifs, different from the traditional Persian ones”. On a trip to New York in the late 70s, she discovered Scandinavian carpets and was struck by their difference and originality in relation to her previous pieces. She organised a trip to Stockholm to buy more, and once there she also bought a collection of furniture by Scandinavian designers.
Today, in her showroom at the Nilufar Gallery on Via della Spiga and in the atmospheric, theatrically renovated former Nilufar Depot warehouse, visitors find authentic design icons, from modern works by Gio Ponti and Lina Bo Bardi to contemporary pieces by Bethan Laura Wood and Martino Gamper.
“I have never bought anything just because I thought it would be easy to sell”. Nina’s business strategy, based on gut instinct, has produced a small profit for a long time, but she explains, “I want people to follow me. I don’t want to be the one chasing others’ – Nina Yashar
Manuel Aires Mateus is a member of the jury for the Archiproducts Design Awards 2023
Manuel Aires Mateus is also a member of the ADA 2023 jury. Mateus was born in Lisbon in 1963, where he graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at the Technical University in 1986. In 1983 he began working with the architect Gonçalo Byrne, an experience that would prove fundamental for his professional growth.
Manuel Aires Mateus
“I think the most important thing architecture should do is make life possible. The architecture we design should allow freedom of appropriation, on the scale of a city, a courtyard or a room” – Manuel Aires Mateus
He founded Aires Mateus & Associados with his brother Francisco in 1988. Public and private commissions, numerous awards and international competitions, and publications in magazines all over the world have established the Aires Mateus brothers as key figures on the European architectural scene. Their work is characterised by an absolute, silent, minimalist and highly sculptural spatiality.
The use of few and significant materials borrowed from tradition reaffirms the ‘centrality of emptiness’, which conveys an idea of timelessness and spatial authenticity. This approach is most evident in one of the studio’s best-known projects – Casa No Tempo, a low, white, parallelepipedal residence camouflaged in the Portuguese countryside, where time really does seem to stand still.
Kelly Wearstler on the jury of the Archiproducts Design Awards 2023
Eclectic and ‘experiential’, the style of award-winning US interior designer Kelly Wearstler, who sits on the ADA 2023 jury, is changing the face of contemporary American design.
Vintage fashion, early 20th-century art movements and postmodern design inspire Wearstler’s colour and material narrative.
Kelly Wearstler designs interiors for luxury residences and international hotels from Beverly Hills to the Caribbean, exploring material, colour, form and a calibrated juxtaposition of contemporary styles and vintage references.
Kelly Wearstler
Her eponymous luxury and lifestyle brand ranges from furniture and lighting to rugs, textiles and upholstery, blending influences from travel, architecture and fashion to graphic design and literature.
“I have always been attracted to experimenting with materials and mixing styles from different eras. The aesthetic of risk is what really drives me”. – Kelly Wearstler
How to enter
The call for entries for the 2023 edition of the Archiproducts Design Awards is officially open!
Each brand can nominate between 1 and 5 products, from furniture to lighting, from contract to building.
Those who also want to compete for the title of Winner Sustainability ADA 2023 must declare their candidacy and provide documentation demonstrating the use of sustainable materials and technologies.
The deadline for submissions is 8 September 2023.
In October, the long list of proposals for the final phase of the Award will be announced.
Winners will be announced in November.