Hidden Art Cornwall designer-maker, Jethro Macey, has just been announced as a winner in the prestigious Elle Decoration British Design Awards; one of the highest accolades in the industry. Jethro’s Lace Embossed Concrete Tiles beat off competition from Timorous Beasties for Brintons Carpets, Committee for The Rug Company and Barnaby Barford for Thorsten Van Elten, to win Best Flooring Product 2007.

 

This year the winners were decided by the public in an online vote, and it was revealed at the ceremony that Jethro won best flooring product by a vast majority.

 

“This award has completed an amazing year for me and my business,” says Jethro. “The recognition from Elle Decoration has assured me that I am moving in the right direction. It also shows that working on small scale production runs doesn’t exclude you from a market usually dominated by large manufacturers and distributors.”

 

Jethro is a graduate from BA(Hons) 3D Design for Sustainability at University College Falmouth and his Lace Embossed Tiles were the product of a digital research project and competition, Repeat and Variation; run by Hidden Art Cornwall in collaboration with Autonomatic, the college’s Digital Research Cluster. The aim of the project was to encourage designer-makers to think about the ways digital technology could extend their practice, help to develop new products or reassess existing ways of working.

 

Cast in concrete, the tiles reveal their decorative rose pattern when laid in multiples and can be used for interior and exterior walls and exterior flooring. Available in white, grey and charcoal, each batch of tiles are handmade to order. The tiles have been specified for projects including Revolution Vodka Bar in Edinburgh, Huxley’s Wine Bar at Heathrow Terminal 5, and private residences both in France and the UK. Jethro also works to commission, making one-off panels or tiles to a specific design.

 

The Elle Decoration award came in the same week as an invitation for Jethro to exhibit in an exclusive exhibition in Belgium. In partnership with Frame Magazine and the city of Brugge Museums, Kantlijnen/Facing Lace, is a four-month celebration of the most contemporary interpretations of lace in art, fashion and design. The exhibition opens in November 2008 and will feature 600 cast polypropylene versions of the award winning Lace Embossed Tiles.

 

A selection of Jethro’s work will be on sale in the Hidden Art Cornwall Shop, running for one week only at The Poly in Falmouth as part of Cornwall Design Week, 19-24 November 2007. His work can also be bought online from the Hidden Art E-Shop at: http://www.hiddenartshop.co.uk/