Phyllis Lambert Design Montréal Grant: Call for Entries from Young Design Professionals

Montreal, August 2, 2012 – Helen Fotopulos, the Ville de Montréal Executive Committee member responsible for culture, heritage, design and the status of women, announced that the Phyllis Lambert Design Montréal Grant will be awarded for a fifth year. Aimed at young design professionals, this annual grant is intended to recognize and promote the talent of emerging designers in Montréal and to advance their professional recognition. The winner will be receive a $10,000 grant for a professional development activity in a city that is part of the UNESCO
 Creative Cities Network, of which Montréal is a member as a city of design. The winner will also benefit from a promotional campaign to become better known in design circles and among the general public.

“The City is proud to support and promote the progress of young designers,” Ms. Fotopulos stated. “Our administration seeks to encourage them to take greater interest in design themes related to the city and offer them an opportunity to deepen their knowledge of practices at the international level through the UNESCO Creative Cities Network. Our winners are true ambassadors for Montréal. They help extend the reach of Montréal’s creativity.” 

The Phyllis Lambert Design Montréal Grant rewards the talent of a Montréal designer with less than 10 years’ professional practice who has stood out due to the exceptional quality of his or her studies and work as well as for particular interest in the city. The grant must be used for a professional development project, such as a study trip, a work internship or participation in a competition, design workshop, symposium or other pertinent activity for advancing a young design career.

Previous winners of the grant are: 

• Guillaume Sasseville (2011), an industrial designer, for his project Verre commun, a series of glasses and cups inspired by drinking glasses mass-produced in early 20th century Montréal and designed in Graz, Austria;
• Mouna Andraos and Melissa Mongiat (2010), two designers involved in interactive design and design environments, for their project to create a series of object prototypes in connection with the Open Design City Lab in Berlin;
• Ying Gao (2009), a university professor and fashion designer, for her project to design modular garments whose production is inspired directly by transformations in the urban environments of Berlin and Nagoya;
• Philippe Lamarre (2008), a graphic designer, publisher and co-founder of the multidisciplinary design studio Toxa, for his project to create a collaborative website on vernacular graphic design in Buenos Aires, Berlin and Montréal.

The members of the 2012 jury are:

• Mélanie Baillargé, Artistic Director, Nolin BBDO;
• Éric Daoust, Associate Architect, Bosses Design;
• Albert Ferré, Publications Director, Canadian Centre for Architecture;
• Pierre Fortin, General Director, Partenariat du Quartier des spectacles;
• Francyne Lord, Section Head, Bureau d’art public, Ville de Montréal.

The jury members will analyze the eligible applications based on the quality of the entry and the interest of the proposed project.

The winner will be announced at the awards ceremony for the Prix de Montréal pour les arts et la culture, to be held on November 22, 2012. This is an initiative of the Conseil des Arts de Montréal and the Ville de Montréal. For information: artsmontreal.org/fr/prix/prix-de-montreal

In honour of Phyllis Lambert

Created by the City of Montréal in 2008, the grant is named in honour of Phyllis Lambert, a Great Montrealer and staunch advocate of emerging designers. It underscores her remarkable contribution to Montréal’s international reputation and its citizens’ quality of life as well as her decisive influence on the quality of urban planning, architecture, heritage and design in the city.

Application procedure

Interested candidates are invited to complete the registration form available at mtlunescodesign.com and submit their applications no later than 4:30 p.m. on September 17, 2012, at the following address:

Phyllis Lambert Design Montréal Grant
Bureau du design
Attn.: Stéphanie Jecrois
Ville de Montréal
303, rue Notre-Dame Est, 6th floor
Montréal, Québec  H2Y 3Y8

For more information about the Phyllis Lambert Design Montréal Grant, visit mtlunescodesign.com.