Conall McAteer Wins Nova Award 2012

The 2nd Nova Awards for Fresh Creative Talent, created by global advertising network Lowe and Partners in 2011, in partnership with Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design, took place on Sept 5th at London’s SW1 Gallery. Conall McAteer is a recent graduate in BA (Hons) Fine Art and his work ‘Crate’ was chosen as the Nova Awards 2012 winner from 1000s of contenders.  

 

Only 3 Novas are awarded to the Central St Martins students, with one overall winner, who are voted the best in class from this year’s graduates selected from across all Central Saint Martin’s courses.

 

Conall’s large scale ‘Crate’ is constructed using thousands of small squares of Ash, Cherry, Oak, Walnut and Wenge Veneer, which are individually adhered to MDF panels. At a distance ‘Crate’ appears pixelated. Left unpreserved, the hardwood veneers will age: the walnut will silver, the cherry become pinker, and the oak will darken.

 

Tony Wright, Chairman of Lowe and Partners said: “The standard of work we had the pleasure of selecting our Nova shortlist from, was truly impressive. Central Saint Martins has a well-deserved reputation for turning out graduates who are brave, independent thinkers and some serious game-changers  that are now world renowned names. At Lowe, we are always interested in keeping abreast of the latest talent and innovation be it from product design, fine art, fashion, graphic design or animation and that’s why I started the Nova Awards. Creativity and cultural insights are our mutual currency and so it’s a ‘win win’ situation for us.”

 

Regarding Conall McAteer’s winning work, he added “Conall’s work exhibited such fresh thinking, skill and craft, that he was our clear winner. However, the calibre of the work of the12 other shortlisted graduates didn’t make the final selection an easy task. I look forward to following all their careers.”

The runners-up were Caroline Kernick for her Jewellery design and Erika Renedo Illarregi for her project ‘Empathology’ for her MA in Industrial Design.

 

The 2012 short-listers are graduates from fashion, fine art, industrial design, graphic design, creative practice for narrative environments, product design, jewellery, animation and textiles. They also represent a truly international showcase of talent, hailing from China, France, Korea, UK, Iceland, Spain and Poland.

 

Some of the most successful names in the world of the arts and design today, graduated from Central St Martins. Fashionistas Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney, Katharine Hamnett are alumni as are actors Paul Bettany, Simon Callow and Colin Firth and designers Terrence Conran, James Dyson. From the fine art, painting and sculpture world come Gilbert & George, Lucien Freud, Elizabeth Frink and Peter Blake whilst the music world has the school to thank for Jarvis Cocker, Jo Strummer and Paloma Faith.