Our annual Design Competition was launched as a means to seek out and find up and coming talented designers, and to help them on their way to greatness. This year CarpetVista is celebrating 10 years in the business and to commemorate all the talented designers who have cooperated with us during all of these years I am during the next weeks going to introduce you to some of our designers.
Design Competition 2015 - MEET Cajsa!
First out is a young woman from the middle parts of Sweden that is competing in this year’s edition of the Design Competition, her name is Cajsa Wessberg and she has just graduated after 3 years at Beckman’s College of Design.I had the privilege of taking part of her final exhibit this spring, where she showcased her work with a carpet from CarpetVista. This interview is meant as an introduction to her work and a opportunity for you to get to know the woman behind the designs.
Chunky people and animals, Tove Jansson & Josef Frank
Cajsa describes herself as a thoughtful and imaginative person and her interest in design started early. When deciding which direction to continue studying after High School, she chose between either law or art. Which could seem as two rather distanced professions and views on life, but maybe this helps to explain the intriguing person behind the designs.
Her main source of inspiration comes from observations in everyday life; chunky people and animals, food and all things odd. And this playfulness is of course present in her work.
She mentions Tove Jansson and Josef Frank as people that truly inspire her, with a strong appreciation of the way that they compose patterns and illustrations.
A strong passion for the environment
For the future she can see herself working in the interior business, converting her illustrations into interior prints and creating patterns and design for the textile industry. Despite these ambitious plans, Cajsa is very passionate about the environment and it is important for her to minimize her impact on consumption and general strain on the environment.
She will soon be launching her web shop as a means to promote and sell her design collections Djur på hög and Köttdjur. Her examination project was the latter, Köttdjur. These funny little critters are meant to be used as teaching material for children in kindergarten, as educational tools to help children understand that the meat that we eat everyday actually comes from living animals. A fun and relaxed way of learning and at the same time to help reduce the impact that the meat industry has on the environment.
Picture: Handloom fringes – Pink
Besides creating new illustrations Cajsa has a huge interest in interior design and she often spend her time building settings both in her home and her mind.
She describes her home as a mad contradicting mixture between a five year olds playfulness and naive look on life, the homeliness of an old lady’s apartment and with elements found in a misunderstood teens room in the 90´s. Her home is filled with stuffed animals, lace, Carl Malmsten-furniture and shot glasses enclosed in flames. An interesting mix of styles and ideas that gives us a good idea of who Cajsa is.
This is the first part in my upcoming series of interviews presented through our website and we hope that this will help to inspire you.
If you feel tempted to participate in this years Design Competition, and to have the chance of your design being produced and sold on Europe’s largest trading place for textile art, just follow the instructions in this link. I hope to see many beautiful and inspiring entries, and to meet interesting and inspiring designers.
The last day to submit a design and to participate in the competition is on the 9 th of September. Good luck to all of you!
Cajsas TOP PICK is our wide assortment of soft, cozy and luxurius shaggy carpets, our Shaggy Collection.
Picture: Shaggy Astra, Shaggy Solana, Berber Shaggy
