DESIGN 21: Social Design Network announced “Ichimatsu,” by Trent Jansen of Sydney, Australia, as the winner of its design Challenge “Kobe G8 Environment Ministers Meeting Furoshiki.” The Challenge was hosted by the web site and organized by Felissimo and the City of Kobe. The winning design, which receives $2,500, was chosen from 157 entries from 35 countries. It will be produced and distributed to all delegates at the Environment Ministers Meeting in May (shown at right).

The “Ichimatsu” design captures the essence and significance of this historic event in a beautifully simple and traditional way. “Ichimatsu” is the Japanese name for a checker pattern, but Jansen also notes how, separately, “Ichi” means city/community in Japanese and “matsu” means pine tree. The designer uses these alternate meanings, literally, by creating a checkered pattern of pine trees to form an image of natural harmony. As the judges note: “The groups of pine trees suggest that nature (represented by the trees) and developed land (represented by white space) co-exist in perfect balance to create a beautiful pattern. Upon closer inspection, one sees that each checker has its own unique size and uneven lines, but together, the checkers produce an orderly world, bordering, surrounding and protecting each other.” The natural balance depicted in Jansen’s design represents the ideal world that the G8 Environment Ministers Meeting pursues.

Felissimo collaborated with the City of Kobe to organize this inaugural DESIGN 21 Challenge to support the goals of the G8 Environment Ministers Meeting being held in Kobe this May. The challenge tasked designers to design a furoshiki, a traditional Japanese wrapping cloth which can be used to carry things and is known as one of the oldest “eco-bags.”

To read more about the winning design, judges’ comments, and view all entries please visit http://www.design21sdn.com/challenges/12.

Finalists announced and New Contest is Launched!

After thousands of photographs were submitted to the first ever international Garden Photographer of the Year competition earlier this year, the entrants have now been whittled down to a list of talented photographers, classed either as “Finalists” or “Commended” and announced today at www.igpoty.com.

The panel of eleven judges, including renowned garden photographer Clive Nichols and TV’s Chris Beardshaw, deliberated at length over photographs of an incredibly high standard from as far afield as Hawaii, Japan and Australia.

The Finalists’ photographs will be showcased at a high-profile exhibition launched on 22 May, in a purpose-built outdoor area at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and running until late September 2008. The winners themselves will be announced when the show opens, as part of the opening of Kew’s Summer festival.

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The competition invites this year all designers to set their imagination free and talk about their dreams, whether these are images and feelings the human mind creates while we sleep or their hopes and wishes. Therefore, the term “dream” can also be used metaphorically, it can be the “starting point” of an idea or be the main theme for the final piece.

The ten best entries will be printed into banners with dimensions 2m x 60cm and will be hung along Ithaca’s promenade for the entire summer of 2008. Their creators will have free accommodation in Ithaca on the weekend of the exhibition’s opening (July 2008).

Each individual or group may submit up to two posters. In order to enter the competition, each artist has to register through this website. Each piece must have dimensions of 40cm height x 12cm width (15,75’’ height x 4.73’’ width) and must be uploaded as an electronic file (pdf or jpeg), resolution 360 dpi, maximum file size 10 MB.

Entries can be uploaded until 31 May 2008. Visit the site to learn more.

TextileRepublic.com is an interactive community for designers from around the world. Textile Republic also is an ongoing design competition where winning designs and logos will be used to create a line of fabrics, clothing, wallpaper, stationery, and other merchandise. Winning designs will receive $1,000 cash and a 5% royalty. Designs will be picked for production every 2-3 months. Designers who wish to participate must register at the site to learn more.

The Shahneshin Foundation (SF) is pleased to announce that the distinguished jury of the Shrinkage Worldwide Awards after careful review and considered assessment of entries chose the works by Elena Giacomolli (City Empire), David Holt (untitled), Christopher Patten (Picnic), Stephanie White (Vital Fluid), Giovanna Zanghellini (Time is running out), have been selected from a highly-regarded worldwide practices and institutions in the Shrinkage Worldwide Awards this year to design a multi-purpose poster capable of delivering the shrinkage nature.

The entries came from Australia, Austria, Canada, China, Croatia, England, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Japan, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Italy, Lebanon, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, USA, and from an array of diverse fields -both academics and practitioners- in arts, architecture, graphic design, industrial design, landscape-architecture, planning, product-design, publicity, robotics, and so-forth.

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How do you travel on a budget? Make a video that’s two minutes or less that demonstrates how you live the budget-savvy life style while on a vacation or road trip! Upload a video that answers the question and you could win $25,000 from Budget Rental Car. Your video must include some car travel and feature a Budget Rent A Car reference and logo prominently shown at some point in the video. View the details at Budget’s “Flip for Budget!” contest.

Every day until 13 June, 2008, Budget will reward a Flip Ultra Series Video Camera to the best video of the day. Digg your favorite video and they’ll award $1000 to the video that gets the most diggs at the end of the contest. At the end of the contest, a grand prize of $25,000 will be awarded to the filmmaker who demonstrates the best ideas for a smart, fun, budget-savvy trip.

Deadline is from now until 11:59:59 PM EST on 13 June 2008. Visit the site to learn more.