Design Laboratory

Calling international graduates of the visual arts working with recycled and re-used materials to enter the Creative Graduate Prize 2010!

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The Creative Graduate Prize™ was founded by sustainable innovation think tank and laboratory Societás™ in 2005, in partnership with online arts platform Medium Magazine. The prize has gained a global reputation for spotting the future stars of the art world, with previous winners from as far and wide as USA, China, Japan, Singapore, Netherlands, Poland, United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, France, Germany, Mozambique and Canada.

This year’s jury is made up of leaders from the international creative industries known for their ability to spot the best emerging talent across the visual arts disciplines, including Yann Mathius – director of talent incubator the Design Laboratory and of online arts platform Jotta.com; Hussain Chalayan and SHOWstudio collaborator, artist and craftmaker Lone Sigurdsson, founder of WasteKnot; trend spotter and champion of female creative talent from around the world, Chauncey Zalkin, founder of What Women Make; acclaimed British artist Tessa Farmer and Creative Graduate Prizeâ„¢ founders publisher of Medium Magazine Laurie Cansfield and founding director of Societásâ„¢ and NEW FRONTIERSâ„¢ Melissa Sterry.

The Creative Graduate Prizeâ„¢ 2010 is supported by media partners including online arts platform Pelime, champion of graduate talent Cut Click magazine, female talent hub What Women Make and online arts platform of Central Saint Martins and the University of Arts Jotta.com. Galleries supporting the prize include amongst others Material and Lazarides.

Past winners and runners-up include amongst others New York based Japanese illustrator Yoko Furusho, British photographer David George, Dutch installation artist Florian de Visser, Polish sculptor Halina Mrozek, Canadian photographer Edith Maybin, New York photographer Carrie Schechter, Singapore digital artist Cai Jia Eng, Chinese illustrator Li Li, Cardiff filmmaker Gareth Lloyd and British artist Alex Bunn.

The theme of this year’s prize is ‘Illusion’ and the deadline has been extended from the 17th to the 31st October 2010.

Entrants should submit a piece of 2D, 3D or Linear work using recycled or reused materials.

Entries should be sent to submissions (at) mediummagazine.net (subject: CGP). Entrants must include their name, nationality, the college or university they attended and the qualification they gained (CGP is open to graduates only), the title of the work and details of the the recycled/reused materials used. The entry should be sent in the following formats: 2D – JPG, min. 72dpi / 1000pix wide; 3D – photos of work, JPG, min. 72dpi / 1000pix wide; Video – MPG, up to 12mb; Audio – MP3, up to 12mb; Text – Email or Word Doc

The Creative Graduateâ„¢ 2010 prize includes: a Key-2 Luxury keyring; a feature in Medium Magazine; a feature in Jotta.com magazine and press coverage across our media partners.

To find out more about the prize drop by the Creative Graduate Prizeâ„¢ pages on Twitter ( http://www.twitter.com/cgprize ), MySpace ( http://www.myspace.com/creativegraduateprize ) and IQONS ( http://www.iqons.com/cgp ). If you’d like to support the prize drop us a line or download the prize media pack on MediumMagazine.net.

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Brent Bucknum of Hyphae Design: a profile.

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We don’t have time to do environmental at that’s not functional.

– Brent Bucknum



In working on a Climate Clock for the San Jose Initiative, designer Brent Bucknam would often get into theoretical debates about the nature of art. His project partner, Brian Howe of greenmeme, would quote Picasso: Art is the lie that reveals the truth. Brent’s response was the quote above.

It’s one of the central questions of the environmental art movement, and one that is integral to Brent’s work with Hyphae Design Laboratory, a company he founded.

How can art save the world?

Artists on greenmuseum.org and elsewhere  are blurring cultural boundaries between art and science, science and activism, volunteerism and performance. Traditional forms hold fast, but functionality remains central to Hyphae’s work. Function: defined by this designer as “interpreting and conveying ecological information or serving otherwise as an ecological tool or system.” Hyphae is currently working on a project in West Oakland, a plan to line the 580 highway on either side with towering stands of bamboo, natural air and particulate filters. On a greenmuseum.org-sponsored panel at the recent Earth Matters on Stage Symposium, he presented a number of other exciting projects, from green roofs to living walls.

The 28-year old designer went to a farming high school. He worked for bioremediation and green roof companies before joining Rana Creek, with which he worked on the California Academy of Sciences’ living roof. He became that company’s first Director of Design before moving on to create Hyphae.  He sees his new company as a catchall, providing services from ecological design and research to consulting for artists interested in environmental projects.

That last aspect is the result of Bucknum’s own experiences making environmental art: he’d like to see artwork that ’s better informed by ecology, not, as he puts it, the “horti-torture” that creates living systems barely able to survive the duration of an exhibition. He’d like the art to be the change it would like to see in the world: smart, sustainable, and thriving.

Go to the Green Museum