AMSTERDAM.- Alemeh M. Yengiabad is the winner of the 2020 Rijksstudio Award, the Rijksmuseum’s international design competition, for her design of The Book. This meticulously designed book presents masterpieces from the Rijksmuseum in braille, ensuring that the Rijksmuseum collection is now also accessible to people with a visual impairment. Alemeh M. Yengiabad received the prize of €7,500 from the professional international jury. SKATE BORD by Floris van Opstal and Head in the Clouds by Monique & Harmony Pfeiffer & van Barneveld claimed second and third place, respectively.

Jury comments on the winning entry: This beautiful design testifies to an ambition to make art accessible to visually impaired people all over the world. We hope that the financial support will enable Alemeh M. Yengiabad to explore the production process so that the book can truly meet the wishes of the target group.




The 2020 winner of both the Public Award and the Young Talent Award is Ezgi Kiralde, for her design for Makeup Palette, in which the makeup is inspired by women portrayed in the Rijksmuseum collection.

The jury was struck by the wealth of social subject matter in designs such as the hijab with a cloud pattern, which is intended to broaden diversity in museum shops. All the designs entered into this competition draw inspiration from Rijksmuseum artworks and are based on images from Rijksstudio, the Rijksmuseum’s online image bank, which now offers almost 700,000 copyright-free images, free of charge.

Jury
The members of the jury were Bas van de Poel (Creative Director, IKEA’s research and design lab SPACE10), Linda Boronkay (Design Director, Soho House), Christian Luiten (co-founder, Avant Arte), Bethan Laura Wood (artist), Gabriela Sánchez y Sánchez de la Barquera (Head, Vlisco&Co) Sean Carney (Chief Design Officer and Head of Healthcare Transformation Services, Royal Philips) and Sara Casillas (Creative Director, Adobe Stock).

Rijksstudio Award
The Rijksmuseum launched the Rijksstudio Award in 2014, to invite members of the public to draw inspiration from the Rijksmuseum collection, download images of the objects, and use them for their own work of art. Anyone can participate in the competition, and all forms of interpretation are permitted, in the disciplines of design, craftwork, applied art, fashion, photography, and video. This year saw the inauguration of the Young Talent Award.