Since 2007, İTKİB has been organizing an annual Carpet Design Competition with the aim of enhancing the creative power of the Turkish carpet industry, strengthening the desire to create and sell original designs, rapidly integrating students from relevant institutions into the sector, and encouraging talented young designers and unique designs. The award night of the 10th edition of the competition was held in a grand ceremony on the evening of Friday, October 7, 2016, at the Renaissance Polat Istanbul Hotel.
The competition was hosted by the Istanbul Carpet Exporters’ Association (İHİB) and held with the support of the Ministry of Economy and the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TİM).
The competition was announced in January, and a total of 90 qualified applications were received from various schools.
During the preliminary selection held on June 13, 2016, 90 application files were evaluated by the jury with the competitors’ names and information kept confidential. As a result of the preliminary evaluation, 27 files passed the jury elimination and earned the right to participate in the second jury evaluation.
In the second jury evaluation held on June 15, 2016, the 27 applicants who successfully passed the first jury were invited for interviews, during which they were expected to present themselves, their portfolios, and their designs to the jury. The files were evaluated based on criteria such as the designer’s level of creativity, the originality and innovation of the design, material design and material-design harmony, the feasibility of converting the designs into carpets, and the usability of the designs by the end consumer, with a scoring system out of 100 points. Following the interviews conducted by the second jury, the files of the 27 participants were reviewed, and the top 10 designers were selected.
After the eliminations, the designs of the 10 selected finalists were produced by the participants themselves, provided that all costs were covered by the İHİB budget. During the production phase, İHİB provided both financial and logistical support to the participants by connecting them with manufacturers and supplying the necessary materials.
The final jury, held on October 7, 2016, at the Renaissance Polat Istanbul Hotel, where the top three winners were determined, was conducted with broad participation. The jury included key representatives from the industry, both local and international designers, and university faculty members.
In the final jury evaluation, the pre-production sketches and the produced carpets of the 10 finalists were examined and scored out of 100. The scoring criteria included the designer’s level of creativity, the originality and innovation of the design, material-design and material harmony, the feasibility of converting the designs into carpets, and the usability of the designs by the end consumer. The final results were determined by combining 40% of the second jury’s score with 60% of the final jury’s score. The designers whose works ranked in the top three were announced during the award ceremony.
Following the opening speeches, Platinum Export Awards were presented to 24 exporting companies, ranked according to their contributions to the carpet sector and export volumes. The awards were distributed in two separate categories: Handmade Carpets and Machine-Made Carpets. As part of the award ceremony, the 2016 Carpet Maker of the Year award was also presented to Memet Güreli from DHOKU Carpet.
The winners of the competition, determined based on the scores of the esteemed jury members comprising industry representatives, academics, and designers, are as follows.
- Muhammed Türk
- Senem Kula
- Faruk Açıkgöz
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