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Winners of Umbra/Pratt Design Competion Announced at ICFF

Students will earn royalties if a product is produced.

Mairi Beautyman -- Interior Design, 5/25/2007 12:00:00 AM

Napkin Holder. Diana Pau/courtesy of Pratt Institute. An innovative napkin holder, spice rack, and magazine rack have taken top honors in the third annual Umbra/Pratt Design Competition. Honoring outstanding design by industrial design students attending Brooklyn´s Pratt Institute, the awards program includes a chance for production of prototypes through product manufacturer Umbra. Winners were unveiled May 20 during the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) in New York.

Spice Rack. Photo by Diana Pau/courtesy of Pratt Institute. The grand prize winner is Napkin Holder by Julia Green. Runner-up is Magazine Rack by Ana Linares, Mino Kodama and Young Taek Oh and third prize went to Spice Rack by Joseph Eberle,

Green, Kodama, and Eberle are currently graduate students in the industrial design program; Linares and Taek Oh graduated this Spring.

The 2007 competition was directed by Paul Rowan, Umbra's co-founder and vice president of design, and Matthew Burger, the chair of Pratt's industrial design department. Judges—among them Pratt alumnus Harry Allen, founder of Harry Allen & Associates—determined winners based on innovation, function, and aesthetic. The winning prototypes, on view during ICFF, will be showcased at the Umbra flagship concept store in Toronto at the end of the month.

Magazine Rack. Photo by Diana Pau/courtesy of Pratt Institute. Students will work with Umbra´s design team and earn royalties if a product is produced. The manufacturer´s catalogue still showcases products by past winners Miron Lior (Conceal bookshelf, 2005 ) and Jeremy Alden (Wishbone, fish skeleton-shaped soap dish, 2005)—both top sellers. A percentage of profits benefits Pratt Institute's industrial design program.

"The collaboration between Pratt and Umbra allows students a real challenge in working with an internationally-known client on an intellectual design endeavor," says Burger..