NEWS Press Release 2021.01.25

YouFab Global Creative Awards 2020
Winners Announcement

The “YouFab Global Creative Awards 2020” (also known as “YouFab”) is an award run by FabCafe Global since 2012, which first began as a competition for creators to simply come together with works that reflect upon current events that affect our world today. The award is rooted in the “Fab” movement and aims to foster a global network of creatives engaging society.
YouFab 2020 has selected London-based designer Scarlett Yang’s “Decomposition of Materiality” as the Grand Prize winner for 2020 and has announced 11 other notable works as winners. The YouFab awards’ theme for 2020, which is marking its ninth year this year, was “Contactless (by default).”

In 2020, the entire world went through extraordinary changes, both in social mechanics and in our daily life, due to lockdowns, social-distancing mandates and other crises caused by the pandemic. Now, in a world where “contactless” became the norm, how can we design and create humanity, physicality, and experiences that shape reality in our society? This existent question in the immediate future calls for answers, and we invited the world to show us the works that deal with it.

This time, the “NewHere Prize”, sponsored by JR East, was introduced as a new Special Prize. The NewHere Prize acknowledges entries on the theme of “Post-Corona mobility.” Creatives worldwide responded to our call for entries with devices, products, idea prototypes, and other works from various genres which are reflecting the world’s current state.

Headed by the Jury President Kei Wakabayashi, Kampire Bahana (DJ and Activist), Steve Tidball (Fashion Designer), and Sayaka Ogawa (Cultural Anthropologist) were invited to judge the entries and select the winners.

List of award-winning works URL: https://www.youfab.info/2020/

Comment by Kei Wakabayashi, the Jury Presiden

The coronavirus pandemic has made us acutely aware of the “space-time between people,” which something we have rarely been aware of in the past. When I came up with the theme “Contactless (by default)” for the 2020 YouFab Awards this time, what I had in mind to gather were works or projects that center around “a person”. In other words, I thought it would be about how “people” could overcome the distance created by the pandemic. However, as I looked at the entries and went through the screening process, I realized that my assumption was wrong. It was not about a “person”, but rather the “distance” between people, or the “space” that has constituted that distance itself.

The Grand Prize and First Prize works, as well as many of the finalists, addressed the issue of “what lies between people” in their own way. What lies between people could be, for example, flying droplets, silence, or the clothes you and I wear that come from a global-scale supply chain. Through these works and projects, I experienced the thrill of the “in-between” space-time, which I had never been aware of before, taking shape like an unidentifiable creature. The three jurors read into each work with acute clarity and opened my eyes to the eloquence hidden in each. Without their insights, I wouldn’t have had this fresh sensation and conviction.

Click here for the full text：https://www.youfab.info/2020/winners.html

Award-winning works

Grand Prize

Title: Decomposition of Materiality
Artist: Scarlett Yang (UK)

“Decomposition of Materiality” is a project that speculates on an ecosystem where specific biomaterials grow, decompose, and change form when exposed to certain conditions. The materials are woven from algae extracts and sericin, a protein from silkworm cocoons. The project relies on 3D technology, from generating textile pattern models and producing casting molds to the final display of the garment and textiles, with an emphasis on sustainability. Doing so helps to consciously minimize waste, in contrast to the unsustainable nature of the existing fashion sector. The project uses the power of both nature and technology to express the beauty of natural life forms, raising questions for the viewer through the concept of the lifecycle of material, proposing a different direction for sustainable fashion.

First Prize

Title: Cartes des Silences – Paris habituelle / confinée
Artist: Clémence Althabegoïty (France)

“Cartes des Silences – Paris habituelle / confinée” is a visualization of the sounds in Paris. It compares the sound levels before and after the first city-wide lockdown driven by the pandemic in 2020. The data shows “normal” annual averages (measured in 2019) and “locked-down” averages for both day and night decibel levels. (The lockdown ran from Mar. 17 to May 11.) This work aims to shed light on noise pollution in Paris and how the first city-wide lockdown changed it. These maps reveal how hard to find quiet areas in metropolitan Paris. The moving images describe how sound fills up the townscape; it is a thought-provoking view on finding a quiet corner in an urban context.