London stories: our studio at IPAX Europe and SBID awards

We discovered that we had been shortlisted as a finalist in the International Property Awards 2019 back in September. Competition representatives contacted us by phone and delivered the news, having invited us to the awards ceremony. Needless to say, we were absolutely thrilled!

The International Property Awards is a well-known competition uniting professionals in the field of architecture, construction and design. Implemented residential and commercial real estate projects from all over the world take part in the race. A board of professional jury selects the best works by region, including Europe, Asia, the USA, Canada and others. The overall winners are announced at the IPAX Global, where national awards’ finalists contest the victory with each other.

Thus, the ANTIC project has made it to the finals of the Europe and UK Property Awards. The regional winners were announced during the first part of the award ceremony. That was so exciting! Over 100 projects were included into the “Interior Design” category, including apartments, country houses, hotels, office spaces, and retail outlets. The quality of projects presented in the European region was truly high, but we never lost our hope to win. And that was for a reason! Our work has outpaced the competitors and scored the highest having received the 5-star award in the sub-category “Best Bathroom Design”.

Apart from the winner announcements and the award ceremony itself, the event’s agenda also included short presentations of keynote speakers. It was interesting to learn a little bit more about the main trends of this year's works, as well as specifics of advertising on specialized resources, both online and in print media.

Based on the results of the regional ceremony, the judges nominated the selected projects to participate in IPAX Global that would take place in December. The nominees were announced at the gala dinner later that day. To our incredible joy, ANTIC got a chance to compete for victory at the international level! Upon receiving the nominee diploma, we got back to our hotel to get ready for a new day.

With an incredibly tight schedule, we planned to attend not just one, but two award ceremonies in London. The SBID International Design Awards is another prestigious competition among interior designers in the UK held by The Society of British and International Design.

Ambitious projects from over 20 countries were shortlisted for the award. The selection process included both scoring by independent jury members, as well as public voting. Our project was nominated for one of 14 main categories: “Kitchen, Bathroom and Bedroom Design”.

The atmosphere and mood of the SBID award ceremony were just like at the Oscars as we imagined it! Evening gowns and tuxedos, stylish decor, and a sparkling sense of humor of the host. All that made the event really festive and fun. That time we didn’t win - a studio from New Zealand carried the palm - however we still enjoyed the gathering a lot.

The finalists’ projects were published in the amazing SBID Design Awards 2019 catalog, and every guest of the ceremony received a copy. Our suitcases got over 3 kilos heavier, but just look at the quality of print!

We could not miss the opportunity to take a little sightseeing walk in London during this busy working trip, so we gladly spent our day off wandering through the streets of the city. Even though we’re short on time, we managed to see a whole range of landmarks we’d learned about at History and English classes in school: St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, Trafalgar Square, Liberty London, Oxford Street…

Apart from traditional sights and buildings, London is famous for its modern architecture: the Bloomberg headquarters by Foster & Partners (which was recognized as the best new building by RIBA Stirling Prize last year), the Shard, the Sky Garden and the 30 St Mary Ax (the so-called  “Cucumber” ), One Pancras Square will most likely catch the attention of even those who are not interested in the architecture at all.

The brutalist mecca of London, The Barbican Center, deserves to be mentioned too. A huge space combining residential buildings, museums and galleries, coffee places and food courts - all in one place. The rough forms of this concrete complex are perfectly balanced by a spacious green area with a pond and fountains. The photos speak for themselves - it’s beautiful indeed!

Museums are a must on the tourists’ agenda, so we could do nothing, but squeeze a couple of museums in our program for the weekend. One of them was The Royal Academy of Arts. We enjoyed walking through its halls and rooms implemented by one of the greatest architects of today - David Chipperfield.

Besides, we went to the absolutely must-see London museum - Tate Modern.

We were so lucky to visit an exhibition by Olafur Eliasson, an infamous contemporary artist and architect. The spectrum of emotions and feelings his artwork evokes is incredible. Loved it!

As designers, we also wanted to take a look at the outstanding design showrooms in London so that to get some inspiration for the new projects. So, we visited Molteni & C Dada flagship store by Vincent van Duisen, the new Tom Dixon’s headquarters and showroom, as well as Ochre - a local lighting and accessories brand. That was so worth it! The furniture and lights we saw were just a work of art.

London is an endless source of inspiration and energy. Even such a short visit was enough for us to immerse into its atmosphere and fall completely in love. Looking forward to meeting the British capital again!