Radheya Visperas Ponce from the Philippines wins coveted Red Dot Design Concept Award

Radheya Visperas Ponce from the Philippines wins coveted Red Dot Design Concept Award

Artist Radheya Visperas with her award

Radheya Visperas Ponce from the Philippines has won the coveted Red Dot Design Concept Award for her submission based on sustainability. The current Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) post-graduate research student – who was born in Baguio City and spend her early childhood in La Union – was recognized for her sustainable design concept using scrap materials, titled Metamorphosis.

The award places Ponce amongst an elite group of artists and designers such as Michael Brandis and Inga Sempe, and companies such as Apple, Motorola, Dyson, and Berendsohn, who have been recognized by Red Dot since the award was initiated in 1955. This year, over 4000 artists and designers from 52 countries sent in applications to the awarding body based in Germany.

Mixed fabric scraps,
personal fabrics and
thread assemblage

Ponce, who is in her final year of her MFA program at SCAD, was encouraged by one of her professors to send a portfolio of her work to the Red Dot jury.
“My Fibers Professor in Textile Innovation nominated me to submit my work to Red Dot,” Ponce says. “I submitted my entry early this year while also preparing to finish my thesis.

“Over the next few months, I learnt that winning a Red Dot award was an honor that by default, enhanced the credentials of artists and designers. Naturally, when I received my award letter from Red Dot in the first week of July, I was elated.”

Metamorphosis is a collection of hand manipulated textiles made from second-hand fabrics, collected as memorabilia from different people and places. Some of the donors who sent in scrap material, also shared brief descriptions of what those pieces of cloth meant to them at various points of their lives. One of the pieces from her work “Metamorphosis” will be exhibited at the Red Dot Museum in Singapore.

(PRESS RELEASE)