Amberif Design Award 2014

Materia Prima.
The watchword of this year’s Amberif Design Award is not just the alchemic representation of the primal substance able to take on the perfect form but also a direct reference to the contemporary idea of sustainability in design which respects local tradition, refers to the historical heritage of functional arts and elevates natural materials. Prized already in ancient Rome, Baltic amber is predisposed, as a substance close to the ideal, to be transformed into an original design. The unique nature of each individual nugget has always provoked artists to look for the right form, interpret associations, make use of its internal structure, colours, shades, transparencies and natural peculiarities preserved for the lucky finder over the past 40 million years. In an era of disposable products, it is sometimes worthwhile to look back to pre-history and fix your sight on the elusive aspects of both the physical and the metaphysical. The material, the medium itself usually gives designers a hint towards their first decisions; let us try to listen to this hint and follow through with it. We expect jewellery (without any functional limitations at all) in which the amber will be a remarkably strong justification for highlighting its most natural properties.

Prof. Sławomir Fijałkowski

Amberif Design Award Competition organised by Międzynarodowe Targi Gdańskie S.A. (MTG S.A.) as part of the 21st International Fair of Amber, Jewellery and Gemstones AMBERIF 2014.

The goal of this Competition is to promote amber as a source of artistic expression. Only natural amber is allowed in the designs. The participants have the complete freedom of choosing the other materials. The competition is open to all designers, artists and craftspeople.


Presentations on (2D) boards shall be accepted, in the form of a design executed in any graphic technique: drawing, rendering, visualisation or photographs of a finished prototype or model.
Each entry should be submitted in the form of a single 30 x 30 cm board.
Entry Form with the 2-D board/entry, should be sent to the MTG S.A. head office by February 10, 2014, Amberif_2014.
Participation in the Competition is free of charge.

The Prizes:
The Main Prize: awarded by the Mayor of Gdańsk: PLN 10,000 gross exchange rate approx. PLN4.2 / 1EUR
The Amber Prize awarded by the International Amber Association – 1 kg of amber
The Silver Prize – 1 kg of silver

Competition Secretary
Monika Pain - ada@mtgsa.com.pl
tel. +48 58 55 49 362,

Competition Curator
Slawomir Fijalkowski - s.fijalkowski@onet.pl

Amberif Project Director
Ewa Rachon - ewa.rachon@mtgsa.com.pl
tel. +48 58 55 49 134
www.amberif.pl,

Organizer:
Gdansk International Fair Co
11 Zaglowa Street, 80-560 Gdansk, Poland