The decision is in, and we're excited to announce the winner of this year's Emerging Designer Award.

Design duo Andrew Southwood-Jones & Alexander Kashin of daast have been chosen as the winners of the Temple & Webster Emerging Designer Award for 2015.

In a unanimous decision, our panel of judges chose the pair for their originality, passion for innovation and desire to push creative boundaries. No strangers to success, they won a Qantas Spirit of Youth award in 2013 for craft and object design

daast's Gradient light is crafted from resin of varying thickness. Image - Rodrick Bond.

'The calibre of participants this year was incredibly impressive,' said T&W Editorial Director Karen McCartney, one of the judges along with author and former Vogue Living Editor David Clark, Sunday Life homes editor Andrea Jones and design commentator and Design Daily founder David Harrison.

'The judges all felt there was a strong, stylistically cohesive body of work that manifested a distinctive sense of Australian design,' she continued. 'Overall, all of the work was highly resolved, the quality of finish was exemplary and the variety of scale and type of objects on display was impressive.'

daast's 'Aligned' lamp rotates through 360 degrees. Image - Rodrick Bond.

'It is a very big surprise for us being picked as the winners from such a strong group of nominated emerging designers,' said Alexander Kashin of daast. 'It was great to be a part of this award and see that Australian design has a lot of potential which is represented through the work of young creative minds. It is really great to see that all the judges appreciate what we are striving for in our design practice.'

The 'Shrink' collection features rubberised plastic over aluminium, part of daast's drive to find innovative uses for unusual materials. Image - Rodrick Bond.

The winners will receive a $5000 cash prize, which comes as the duo prepare to exhibit their work at the London Design Festival in September. 'The prize money is an unexpected surprise for us and we'll definitely put it to good use. The bills just keep piling up and we are afraid that we've already spent it all before even receiving the prize!' said Alexander.

'We want to thank everyone who is involved in this initiative,' he continued. 'It is always good to see that companies like T&W are investing their time and money into presenting original Australia design to a wider audience.'



Canberra-raised designer Nicholas Fuller has been awarded the People's Choice Award, after generating an impressively positive result in the public vote. David Harrison, judge and design commentator said: 'Nicholas’s incredible ability with timber is evident and he finds refined solutions to maximise the beauty of a product.'

Nicholas travelled from Adelaide with his incredible (and heavy!) maple and pressed leather credenza to attend the launch event for our Award; he is currently in residence at the JamFactory. 'Congratulations to the guys from Daast design!' he said.  'It was such a great turn out of work and a privilege to be included in the Award. I'm so excited to be chosen for the People's Choice award; this all helps with the growth of my emerging practice and I'm excited to continue designing new work.'

People's Choice winner Nicholas Fuller with his 'Phil' chair. Photography - Adam Stone

We wish all the nominated designers the very best for all their future endeavours, and we're looking forward to watching their progress. It's our pleasure and our privilege to support young Australian designers this way, and especially to give our million-plus members the chance to shop for original design pieces which might otherwise be hard to find. We appreciate the support of the thousands who voted this year, and who shopped in our special sale event. Thank you!

Follow daast and Nicholas on Instagram @daastdesign and @nicholas_fuller 

If you missed out, learn more about all the nominees for our Emerging Designer Award here.