AMSTERDAM.- Masterpieces Never Sleep, sleep masks inspired by Johannes Cornelisz Verspronck’s Portrait of a Girl Dressed in Blue, has won the Rijksstudio Award 2017, the Rijksmuseum's international design award. Lesha Limonov from Belarus received a cash price of €10,000 from an international jury.

The Eden Condoms by Esther Pi & Timo Waag (Spain) and Plant Study Hats by Jessie Hall (England) won second and third place respectively. The Rijksstudio Award is made possible by the Rijksstudio Fonds / Rijksmuseum Fonds.

The jury said: “Masterpieces Never Sleep is a strong concept that radiates great simplicity which opens our eyes to art and is also a playful homage to Portrait of a Girl Dressed in Blue."

The work was selected from over 2,600 entries from 62 countries. Delft Blue Eyes + Nails by the duo Francine LeClercq & Ali Soltani (United States), which received 2,202 votes out of a total of 10,270 votes cast, won the Public Award 2017.

Submitted designs were all inspired by the Rijksmuseum collection and taken from the 300,000 digital images that the Rijksmuseum offers free and royalty-free in Rijksstudio through its website. The award is open to anyone and to any medium – design, craft, applied arts, fashion, photography and video.

The 2017 edition of Rijksstudio Award saw a near three-fold increase in the number of entries compared to previous editions. 62% of total entries came from outside of the Netherlands, with the top 10 submissions representing 9 different countries. The winning designs of previous editions include a make-up palette, a wallpaper collection, a Delft blue hat, a Rembrandt book bracelet, and a set of Rijks Conserves.

The Jury for the Rijksstudio Award
Chairman: Taco Dibbits, Rijksmuseum General Director; Irma Boom, Irma Boom Office Director; Tony Chambers, Wallpaper Chief Editor; Thomas Widdershoven, Former Director Design Academy Eindhoven; Ute Thon, Chief Copy Editor ART- Das Kunstmagazin and Ingrid Chou; Associate Creative Director at MoMA.