Umbra’s Winners Unveiled

Young Taek Oh received the first prize in the 2nd Annual Umbra/Pratt Design competition for Phantom Clock, an ethereal clock that tells time by a shadow cast by unseen tricks behind a backlit black circle fixed to the wall. Second prize was won by Kenzan Tsutakawa-Chinn for his Bling Lights, a collection of delicate jewelry cast in resin. Third prize went to designGO, a partnership of Mino Kodama, Peter Pracilio and Ian Collings, for their Kablam doorstops and hooks, and their Juicy Juicer, a lightweight metal tube that both juices and strains fruits. The competition was started in January and the winner was announced April 18. Umbra is currently working with the winners to see exactly how feasible it is to mass-produce the winning designs. Those projects that can be produced will be available in the January 2007 catalogue. Those that don’t will still have been officially recognized as cool.