RAPAPORT... A Japanese designer won the $10,000 top prize at
the food-themed HRD Awards in Antwerp for a brooch that evoked feelings
associated with the lifecycle of a grain of rice from harvest to the dinner table.
Tomoko Kodera drew inspiration for this unusual
concept from a
man who wore a coat with rice husks stuck on it, according to his entry on the
awards website. Kodera’s brooch contained 400 handmade rice husks.
“I started to imagine the smell of the rice
harvest, the sound of the husker, the aroma of cooked rice wafting from a
grandmother’s kitchen, the shiny surface of cooked rice, and a dinner table
surrounded by family
members,” she
explained on the page. “When you wear this jewel or see someone wearing it, you
will find the doors of your imagination opening one by one.”
The competition invited designers to find
inspiration in their culinary heritage, according to a statement posted on HRD
Antwerp’s website November 2.
A jury comprising industry experts gave 29
designers out of 1,531 an opportunity to produce a unique concept and display it
at the Belgian Pavilion in Expo Milan 2015, a six-month
event that ran until October 31.
Kodera beat off competition from finalists Shu
Liang of China, whose design was also based on the rice theme; Evi Bakker from
the Netherlands who produced a design that imitated a restaurant table; and
Freeman Johnson from China, who made an item of jewelry that resembled hot
chili. Sancha Livia Resende from Brazil, who also reached the final, bagged the
public voting award for a tea-themed product, according to the online site. All
four runners-up received $2,500, the statement said.
The awards, which are handed out every two
years, are aimed at fostering creative talent and extending the limits of
contemporary diamond jewelry design, according to the statement.
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