The Grand Prix of the Jury went to Laura Couto Rosado, France graduated from HEAD, Geneva for Le chant des quartz.



This is a design project which genuinely makes three crystals sing by harnessing their piezoelectric
properties. From rock crystal it coaxes forth a sonorous vibrancy, a form of life. The designer enchants the domestic landscape through a process which is relatively simple in the end:
she connects a frequency generator to an amplifier and a transformer, using a physical property which has been acknowledged since the nineteenth century, but which has lain hitherto abandoned or hidden within our high-tech equipment. She plays with the paradox between the
demystification of a misappropriated technology and the magic of a singing crystal: “ The project is magical, not because it is technically advanced, but because it reveals the poetry inherent in existing technology.”

It is also a question of a change of outlook: electronics may now be considered a material for both design and expression (on an equal level with wood or ceramics) and no longer simply as applied physics. Le Chant des Quartz is in a developmental phase for the production of a unique electro-acoustic instrument including further piezoelectric crystals, like tourmaline.

Laura Couto Rosado is working in partnership with the Geneva University of Music in order to broaden the acoustic palette of crystals and thus soon be able to offer a mineral orchestra.



The Grand Prix consist of :

• a research scholarship of one year at Sèvres – cité de la céramique
• a research scholarship of one year at CIRVA (International Glass and Arts Research Centre) in Marseille, to create a vase. This vase will be produced in triplicate and will the become a part
of the permanent collection at the villa Noailles and part of the CIRVA collection.
• a grand of 5 000 euros given by {{Galerie Kreo for a personal design project that could represented by Galerie Kreo.
• a personal exhibition at the villa Noailles during Design Parade 10, in July 2015
• a personal exhibition in Köln during Passagen, in January 2016, with partnership of the French
Institut Köln.
• a personal exhibition in Paris, with partnership of D’DAYS, in June 2016.
• an exhibition at Espace d’art Le Moulin in La Valette-du-Var in July 2016.
• the Galeries Lafayette group will offer a visibility to the Grand Prix of the Jury award winner in the shops network of the group.
• a Boisbuchet’s workshop offered by Vitra
• The book Sottsass offered by Phaidon
• The Rotary club Hyères gives a grant of 2 500 euros to the winner of the Grand Prix of the Jury.
• The Musée des arts décoratifs will invite all the Grand Prize of the Jury winners for the International Festival of Fashion and Photography and the Design Parade festival to exhibit their creations in Paris in 2015.


10 DESIGNERS:
Carlo Clopath, Switzerland / Laura Couto Rosado, France / Adrien Goubet, France / Marlo Kara, Switzerland | Greece / Silva Lovasova, Slovakia / Malak Mebkhout, France / Axel Morales, France / Thibault Penven, France / Klemens Schillinger, Austria / Tijmen Smeulders, Netherlands

JURY:
Stefan Scholten and Carole Baijings, designers, head of the jury, Amsterdam / Stéphane Arriubergé, editor, Moustache, Paris / Lidewij Edelkoort, trend forecaster, Paris / Mette Hay, co-director editor, HAY, Copenhaguen / Alexandra Midal, curator, Paris | Geneva / Mathieu Peyroulet-Ghilini, winner of the Design Parade 8 Grand prix, Paris / Marion Ravel, co-director, Ravel potery, Aubagne

Design Parade 9
4, 5, 6 July / Exhibitions until September 28
villa Noailles
Montée Noailles
83400 Hyeres
www.villanoailles-hyeres.com




Image Credits: © HEAD DYLAN PERRENOUD POUR LAURA COUTO ROSADO