It’s good to have something to celebrate in these straitened times, and giving designers a leg-up is a very good cause. Whether eco-aware, crafted furniture, graphic ceramics or humorous lighting, designers have been bringing their products to market with the helping hand of Hidden Art for two decades, and the organisation is marking this milestone at its annual awards this week. Hidden Art is ‘rewarding’ in 20 categories, including: the Most Active Member, with Lina Meier, Meiha Tsang and Michelle Mason in contention; the Most Inspiring Member, which pits Black & Blum against Ella Doran, furniture designer Gareth Neal, product designer Ryan Frank and, again, Mason; and the Most Exciting Business Deal, with Anthony Dickens, Scene, Selina Rose, Sonodesign and Piyush Suri London in the running. According to Max Fraser, who was on the panel discussing shortlisted contenders, the latter category was particularly vigorously discussed. ‘Designers continue to be quite enterprising,’ he says. ‘The Brits [in general] are entrepreneurial. I couldn’t see an organisation like Hidden Art existing in other countries, due lack of critical mass.’ With Hidden Art looking to take advantage of projects such as the London 2012 Olympics in the future, let’s raise our glasses to another 20 years of Hidden talent.
Hidden Art Annual Awards take place on 26 February, at Rich Mix, 35-47 Bethnal Green Road, London, London E1
- Brands in this article
