Showroom Showcase winners Antoniya Stoitsova, Isabella Yurtsever, Raphaé Memon and Sikander Pervez (left to right)
Showroom Showcase, now in its third edition, will take place throughout June this year as part of London Festival of Architecture (LFA).
This competition invited emerging architects and designers to create unique architectural installations in top showrooms across London, including Gaggennau, VitrA Bathrooms and Ideal Standard.
The Floating Column from LFA2022 by Space A at VitrA Bathrooms © Luke O’Donovan (left) and Fragment from LFA2021 by Inclume at Gaggenau © Agnese Sanvito (right)
For this year’s Showroom Showcase, the brief asked applicants to think about the theme ‘Waste not, want not’ when developing their designs. This means that any installations must use materials produced as a by-product of the showroom’s manufacturing process or day-to-day activity as their primary medium.
Three fantastic design teams have been selected and partnered with one of these iconic showrooms. Their work will be displayed and ‘showcased’ in the showroom windows as part of the Festival in June.
The winning design teams are:
Raphaé Memon and Sikander Pervez
Raphaé Memon is a British architect and award-winning designer, working on projects from the scale of civic public events and buildings to stage sets and sculpture. He studied Architecture at The Bartlett UCL and Manchester School of Architecture, and his projects explore the development of architectural space from the lens of a stage designer, and vice versa.
Raphaé has designed sets for operas and fashion, worked for the London Design Festival at the V&A, and on installations for artist Es Devlin. His architectural experience includes work with Buckley Gray Yeoman, Nissen Richards Studio, BDP, Herzog & de Meuron and Arup.
Raphaé has been invited as critic and tutor at architecture schools around London and was nominated for the RIBA President’s Bronze Medal.
Sikander Pervez is a British artist working in the medium of sculpture and installation. Sikander read Fine Art at Staffordshire University, where his interests from a young age in product design and exposure to his Father’s electrical engineering factory fuelled the exploration of the relationship between human beings and inanimate objects from the domestic realm.
Sikander only practiced art full time for two years post-graduation. In this time, he showed as part of group exhibitions, won awards, was asked to participate in artists talks, and was selected for a solo exhibition at The New Art Gallery Walsall.
Sikander has recently restarted his art practice by collaborating, as his work gears in the direction of public sculpture, installation and architecture.
Raphaé and Sikander are partnered with Gaggenau.
Antoniya Stoitsova
Antoniya Stoitsova is a London-based architect and designer. Working at the intersection of art and technology, she creates experimental environments that address the topics of social engagement and environmental responsibility. Her work methodology is based on the design application of cutting-edge technology, as well as experimenting with alternative fabrication methods and materials.
Amongst her latest projects are Entwined Light, an off-grid light installation utilising the inherent properties of photo-luminescent materials, and Nexus, sustainable shelter and event structures that absorb CO2 as part of the curing process of building components.
Antoniya is actively involved in academia and teaches Environmental and Technical Studies at the Architectural Association. Previously, she was a lecturer at the Royal College of Art, in addition to leading independent design workshops internationally.
Antoniya is partnered with VitrA Bathrooms.
Isabella Yurtsever
Isabella Yurtsever is a London based Multi-Disciplinary Designer. Having attended BA Architecture at Central Saint Martins, her work comes from a spatial perspective rooted in artistic practice.
Since graduating she has worked at aLL design, and Delve Architects as a Part 1 Architectural Assistant, where she gained architectural and technical experience over a range of projects at varying scales including private residential, nursery, and public realm projects, from conception to completion. Then she worked for Seen Studios, a strategic and multidimensional design and production agency specialising in live retail environments, where she developed her skills as a designer on a smaller scale, at a faster pace, and with a wide array of clients.
Isabella is currently in freelance roles as a 3D Designer whilst developing her own personal practice. Her approach to projects is through a unique and in depth research process with the core belief that design must be responsive, and responsible. She adopts a colourful and playful approach to all projects, aiming to make life better.
Isabella is partnered with Ideal Standard.
