09.05.2011: award winner design competition

Award ceremony for the first design competition at studio Thomas Kellner

Award ceremony for the first design competition at the Thomas Kellner studio
Catherina Formiglio, Christoph Gerber, David Klaas and Tatjana Krause are the winners of the first design competition organized by the Siegen photographer and artist Thomas Kellner with trainees from the TÜV Rheinland private school in Siegen. It was concluded on Saturday on the occasion of the "Siegen Art Day 2011" with the award ceremony in Kellner's studio on Friedrichstraße. The jury awarded a total of four prizes. Catherina Formiglio received a print voucher worth 70 euros, Christoph Gerber received a special edition Farbwelt 135-36 by Thomas Kellner, David Klaas received a special edition All shook up by Thomas Kellner and the jury unanimously decided to turn Tatjana Krause's catalog design into reality.

Kellner had announced the competition for the first graduating class of "design assistants" at the state-recognized vocational college, which opened in autumn 2008. It arose from Kellner's contact with Stefanie Markuske, a specialist lecturer at the vocational college. She had suggested the project and Kellner immediately got involved. The content: The photographer provided 20 images created as part of a Mexico project, a text by the Texan curator Fernando Castro, his biography and drawings that he had made as part of the project in the Central American country: "All participants had the same material and the task of creating an exhibition catalog from it," Kellner explains. The result was 20 completely different works, "everything from tourist/populist work to a minimalist/Swiss approach," says the photographer happily.

The designs were evaluated by a jury on Saturday, with Oliver Seltmann from the art and photo book publisher seltmann & söhne in Lüdenscheid / Berlin presenting the award. The winner's design will actually be published. "But I'm optimistic, because we already have the first thirty pre-orders," says Kellner. For the students, working in the competition was an exciting experience, and for the final winner it was also an important element with a view to the upcoming applications in the summer. "We are pleased that we were able to realize our goal of providing practical training with a view to the actual requirements of working life with this project. It was an important experience for the students and it was very good that Thomas Kellner accompanied the project with several visits and consultations. We would like to thank him warmly for this support," says Anke Weimer from the vocational college.

Background
The state-recognized vocational school of the non-profit TÜV Rheinland Bildungswerk was opened in Siegen in autumn 2008. Every year, the school trains 20 school leavers to become "state-certified design assistants specializing in object design" or "state-certified cosmeticians". In addition to vocational training, the young people also receive general education lessons and, if they achieve the appropriate grades, acquire a technical college entrance qualification as admission to further studies.
The application process for the 2011 training year is currently underway. For more information, please call 0271 / 772 19 17 or visit tuev-ps-siegen@de.tuv.com.

Your contact for questions:
DJM Medienservice Niederrhein, Nadia Joppen, Tel. (02154) 48 67 0 or (0170) 833 42 43, joppen@djm-medienservice.de

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