The winners of the 2015 Design Institute of Australia NSW/ACT Graduate of the Year Awards (GOTYA) have been announced at a gala awards ceremony at Tusculum, Potts Point in Sydney.
Seventy nominations were received spanning seven design categories with nominations from Western Sydney University, University of Canberra, University of New South Wales, University of Technology Sydney, TAFE Sydney Institute – Fashion Design Studio, TAFE Sydney Institute – Design Centre Enmore, and Whitehouse Institute of Design.
The overall winner for 2015 was Yousef Akbar of TAFE Sydney Institute – Fashion Design Institute for the Fashion Design category. The judges were impressed by Akbar’s ability to “harness inspiration from personal experiences into his design” and noted his use of unconventional materials such as hardware, which brought an edge to his soft materials and tailoring.
Now in its 12th year, the 2015 GOTYA jury included Clive Solari (D3 Design), Andrew Simpson (Vert Design), Jenna Redfern (Camilla), Nicole Phillips (Gensler), Bernadette Bellwood (Bellwood), Kenneth King (Kingdom Home), Jason Moss (Jason Moss Jewellery Design), Andy Medhurst (Cox Architecture), and Madeline Lester (Madeline Lester + Associates).
The 2015 NSW/ACT GOTYA category winners are:
Graphic Design – Yan Lin, University of Technology Sydney
Interior Design – Hannah Clifton, University of Technology Sydney
Industrial Design – Amy Leedham, University of New South Wales
Interior Design and Decoration – Rosie Schloeffel, TAFE Sydney Institute – Design
Centre Enmore
Jewellery and Object Design – Rei Mai, TAFE Sydney Institute – Design Centre Enmore
Textile Design – Elizabeth Hackney, University of New South Wales
Fashion Design – Yousef Akbar, TAFE Sydney Institute – Fashion Design Institute
