Designblok 2014 – Design Awards & Ceremony

It’s been a busy month for Mint’s owner Lina. Besides being on the jury for the Biennale Interieur Awards in Kortrijk, Lina was selected to be on the panel of judges for Czech Designblok, along with Milanese gallerist Rossana Orlandi & owner of the Dutch design store Frozen Fountain, Cok de Rooy. The judges had to choose between 20 finalists in the product category and after much deliberation, they decided upon Marlene Huissoud’s From Insects collection.

Coincidentally, winner Marlene Huissoud is one of the recent graduates whose intriguing & unique From Insects vases were selected for Mint’s London Design Festival exhibition, Elements of Craft.  Marlene forms her vessels by collecting the bio-waste propolis produced by the common honey bee.  The propolis has a similar characteristic to glass which means it can be blown and shaped to create fantastic forms as shown below. You can still catch her vases in store at Mint now.

Below you will find a selection of photographs taken from the welcome ceremony at the awards as well as photos from the after party ! Enjoy !

Designblok ran from the 7th – 12th of October 2014. For more details on the events that took place please visit the Designblok website.

Lina presenting the award for best overall design to Marlene Huissoud.

Marlene Huissoud’s ‘From Insect’ Vases as seen at Mint

Atmospheric snapshots from the brilliantly creative performance that preceded the awards giving. Inspiration was taken from traditional Czech narratives and was delivered by a very talented bunch of young actors.

Lina, Coq and Rosanna playing around post- ceremony

The renowned Czech designer Maxim Velcovsky with friend in tow.