Jury Alumni

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  John and Wonhee Arndt

  Partners, Studio Gorm

  2018 Furniture & Lighting Jury Captain

  Studio Gorm was founded in 2007 by John Arndt and Wonhee Jeong Arndt.
  
  As professors in the Product Design department at the University of Oregon, they apply their insightful academic research on culture, history and technology to refocus modern design through the prism of time, exploring the transformation of objects and ideas as they evolve to fit the demands and expectations of modern life.
  
  As designers of functional objects, they draw from their background in sculpture and craft to create works that balance function and aesthetics. Their methods are deeply rooted in the act of physical making where an object’s true form evolves out of an experimental constructive approach to design.

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  Estelle Bailey-Babenzien

  Business Founder, Creative Director and Interior Designer, Dream Awake Studio

  2022 Furniture & Lighting Jury Member

  Estelle Bailey-Babenzien is of British and Ghanaian descent and was born and raised in the UK. She graduated from Central Saint Martins in London, with an honors degree in Fashion- communication and promotion, and moved straight to New York City. Since then, she has built her career as a creative director in the fields of music, fashion, and interior architecture and design. In 2015, she cofounded the men's/unisex clothing brand Noah with her husband, designer Brendon Babenzien. Noah has two stores in the United States, two stores in Japan, and shop-in-shops in three Dover Street Market stores globally. Simultaneously, Estelle continues to grow her design studio, Dream Awake Design, which focuses on experiential and interior design, and creative direction for commercial and residential projects and brands. She lives in Brooklyn, NY, with her husband and their six year-old daughter, Sailor.

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  Hanna Nova Beatrice

  Editor in Chief, Residence Magazine

  2016 Furniture & Lighting Jury Member

  Hanna Nova Beatrice is a design writer and Editor in Chief of Swedish title Residence and English language bookazine My Residence. She has been the Editor of a number of magazines, all focusing on design and interiors, as well as edited and written books on design, including the book Behind the Scenes in the Design industry. She regularly holds panel debates on design and have co-curated exhibitions such as 20 Designers at Biologiska (Stockholm 2011) and Norweigan Structure (Milan 2016).

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  Jaye Buchbinder

  Director of Product, Emeco

  2023 Furniture & Lighting Jury Captain

  Born and raised in Long Beach, California, Jaye studied Sustainable Engineering at Stanford and currently works at Emeco in Product Development and Sustainability, where she chairs out of recycled materials. She lives and surfs in Venice Beach, California.

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  Jeremy Cai

  CEO, Italic

  2022 Furniture & Lighting Jury Member

  Jeremy Cai was born and raised in Illinois where his entrepreneurial streak began while operating a lending business at his middle school lunch table. Jeremy studied at Babson College before dropping out as an early member of the Thiel Fellowship to pursue a career in technology. Since then, Jeremy has brought many successful companies to life, including Fountain, a leading software platform that businesses such as Uber and Amazon use to hire millions of people each year, Not Pot, a cult-favorite wellness brand, and Tonari , a Japanese anime
  studio.
  
  In his current role as CEO of Italic, Jeremy oversees global strategy and culture.

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  Bryan Jay Calvero

  Founder, Period Correct

  2022 Furniture & Lighting Jury Member

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  Jillian Choi

  Director of Global Exhibitions, Design Miami

  2021 Furniture & Lighting Jury Member

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  Paul Cocksedge

  Founder, Paul Cocksedge Studio

  2015 Furniture & Lighting Jury Captain

  Paul Cocksedge studied under Ron Arad during his MA in Product Design at the Royal College of Art, and was introduced to Issey Miyake and Ingo Maurer, both of whom staged early exhibitions of his work. Maurer went so far as to give Paul a show within his own show at Milan Design Week 2003, introducing his lights 'Styrene', 'NeON' and an early work that was to be developed into 'Life 01' with FLOS. Paul has since gone on to become one of Britain's leading designers, founding Paul Cocksedge Studio with business partner Joana Pinho in 2004. The Studio's catalogue includes an imaginative range of design products, architectural projects, sculptures and lighting, all infused with the sense of simplicity, joy and wonder that has come to characterise Paul Cocksedge's work.

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  Svenja Diekmann

  Head of Design and R&D, Hem

  2019 Furniture & Lighting Jury Member

  Svenja Diekmann is the Head of Design for Stockholm-based design brand, Hem where she oversees the brand’s daily design operations, from Hem’s various design departments, to material and color research, to R&D work with their European factory network. She has overseen some of Hem’s most iconic products, such as the Palo sofa, Alphabeta lamps and the Arthur Arbesser blankets and rugs, to name a few. Prior to her work with Hem, she worked with many some of Europe’s leading design firms, such as Patricia Urqiola.

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  Tariq Dixon

  Co-founder, TRNK NYC

  2021 Furniture & Lighting Jury Captain

  Tariq Dixon founded TRNK in 2013 as a destination for fellow design enthusiasts seeking rarefied products in a more approachable setting. A creative strategist and product designer, he’s motivated by the role designed environments play in shaping our interactions, memories, and experiences. His work has been featured in NY Times, The Wall Street Journal, and New York Magazine, to name a few. Tariq is originally from Baltimore, a graduate of Harvard College, and has called New York City home for more than ten years.

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  Angie Fang

  Co-founder, STUDIO NOWHERE

  2017 Furniture & Lighting Jury Member

  Angie Fang is a digital artist/designer and a co-founder of Studio NOWHERE. She works with diverse media and cross-discipline approaches to express her world through different art forms including sculpture, audiovisual and interactive installations.
  
  She received her MFA degree from Goldsmiths, University of London, where her research focused on the tension between sound, space and visual elements, and also the subtle experience between the technology synthesised and the reality. Most of her works attempt to represent pseudo-natural, material sensory environment, yet with characteristics of the computational and digital at its heart. Her works has been exhibited 2015 London design week at Victoria & Albert Museum, UK.

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  Thom Fougere

  Founder, Thom Fougere Studio

  2018 Furniture & Lighting Jury Member

  Thom Fougere Studio was founded in the fall of 2015 in Winnipeg, Canada. The studio works within various fields of art and design, but with a focus on furniture and products for the home. All projects are characterized by careful research into materiality, history, aesthetics, and functionality. The studio offers full creative direction, furniture and interior design services.
  
  Thom Fougere (1987) studied architecture at the University of Manitoba before working in furniture and product design. In 2011, after his studies in Architecture, he was appointed Creative Director of Canadian furniture design house EQ3 at the age of 24. There he initiated a rebranding of the company including a transformation of the product line, graphic design, photography, interiors and the architectural design of stores. Thom Fougere continues to investigate how we live and interact with objects in our homes, creating pieces that are both subtle and archetypal in form. His works have been shown internationally at the design fairs in Milan, Stockholm, New York, and Toronto.

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  Ben Gaffney

  VP of International Design Development, L. Ercolani

  2020 Furniture & Lighting Jury Captain

  Ben Gaffney is the Vice President of International Design Development for L. Ercolani, the 100-year-old U.K. design brand, and Founder of AileenJames, Retail and Design Partners. Ben is an industry veteran who has collaborated with Norm Architects, Design Within Reach, Menu A/S, HNI Group, and Atlason studio to bring innovative design solutions to a global market. Prior to his work with L. Ercolani and AileenJames, he was the Head of Product Development for Design Within Reach.

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  Éva Goicochea

  Founder and CEO, Maude

  2021 Furniture & Lighting Jury Member

  Éva Goicochea spent her early career as a legislative aide in healthcare then 10+ years in ecommerce and digital strategy working with Squarespace, adidas, and Everlane. She co-founded her first company, Tinker Watches, in 2015. Converging her passion for healthcare and brand, she launched maude, an inclusive modern sexual wellness company in 2018. To-date, she's one of only 20 Latinx women to raise over $4 million and was voted Entrepreneur's 2019 100 Most Powerful Women, WWD's 60 Power Players in Healthy and Beauty, and Fast Company's 2021 Next 1000. In 2020, she joined the board of Peer Health Exchange.

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  Constance Guisset

  International Designer, Constance Guisset Studio

  2016 Furniture & Lighting Jury Member

  Born in 1976, Constance Guisset lives and works in Paris.
  
  After studying at ESSEC business School and Sciences-Po Paris, then a one-year internship at Japan Parliament in Tokyo, she chooses to turn towards design and enters ENSCI design school from which she graduates in 2007.
  
  In 2008, she is awarded the “Grand Prix du Design de la Ville de Paris”, wins the Prize for the Public of the Design Parade at La Villa Noailles (Hyère, France), as well as two grants from the VIA (French institute for the valorisation of innovation in design). In 2010, she is named among the “ten designers of the year” in Maison & Objet, Now! Design à vivre and wins the Audi Talents Awards.
  
  Constance Guisset establishes her own studio in Paris in 2009. She works with many French and international furniture editors like Molteni, Petite Friture, Moustache, etc. She also designs industrial objects for companies like La Cie – Seagate or travel accessories for Louis Vuitton Malletier for instance.
  
  Since 2009, she has realized the stage designs of several shows, among which Angelin Preljocaj’s solo, Le Funambule, Laurent Garnier’s Concert in Salle Pleyel in Paris in 2009 or Angelin Preljocaj’s ballet Les Nuits presented in Théâtre National de Chaillot in Paris. She also conceived stage design for exhibitions for the Arts Décoratifs museum in Paris, the Villa Noailles, or for brands like Established & Sons or Molteni (2011, Paris Designers’ days award for best scenography).
  
  She developed a new concept of interior design for Accor hotel group Suite Novotel. It has been deployed in The Hague and Paris in 2014.
  
  Her work finds applications in industrial design, stage design, interior design and videos. It is guided by an interest for illusion, lightness and surprise. She creates moving objects to raise amazement and fascination.

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  Chris Liljenberg Halstrøm

  Founder, Chris L. Halstrom

  2018 Furniture & Lighting Jury Member

  Chris Liljenberg Halstrøm was born 1977 and lives and works in Copenhagen, Denmark. Halstrøm mainly works with furniture and smaller objects for the home always taking a starting point in everyday situations. She finds it interesting to work with familiarity and neutrality as topics in order to create new expressions and purposes for objects. This applies whether working with companies such as Skagerak, Frama and +Halle or with objects for exhibitions. In 2017 she received the Three Year Work grant from The Danish Arts forundation / Statens Kunstfond.
  
  She established her own studio in 2007 after graduating from The Royal Danish Academy in Copenhagen with prior studies in Stockholm, Sweden and Berlin, Germany.
  
  In addition to running her own studio, Halstrøm is part of the duo INCLUDED MIDDLE with textile designer Margrethe Odgaard. Together, they design furniture and objects from the two simple questions; what if colour and pattern are seen as something suggesting form and what if form is seen as something suggesting pattern.