Now in their 14th year, the WIN Awards are intended to celebrate the best interior designers, and their most dazzling work, on an international scale. You have just over a month to benefit from the discounted early bird entry rate which closes on June 13. Every project entered in the WIN Awards is assessed by an expert panel of senior industry judges from across the world.
Kyriakos Katsaros (pictured above far left) is Principal at Studio C102, an architecture and interior design practice based in Dalston, East London, which he founded in 2013. He works on the principle that good design should be accessible to everyone and not just limited to the few. Kyriakos' practice has a playful and tactile approach to adapting, re-imagining and breathing new life into existing structures with recent projects including a new permanent gallery at Manchester Museum and a new café and restaurant at the Brighton Dome. He is currently a visiting lecturer at the University of Brighton and at De Montfort University.
Kyriakos advises entrants to pay close attention to the instructions in the entry kit.
“Compile a captivating PDF that highlights your project using professional photography and clear, concise text that explains the project and your design approach,” he says.
Roshni Kshirsagar (pictured above far right) is a partner at Mumbai-based SJK Architects where she is head of interior design. Her recent projects have included interior design for the Bodhgaya Hotel, and the retail store for Forest of Chintz as well as offices for Egon Zehnder India and Penguin Random House India. Roshni is conscious of the relationship between interior design and architecture, and strives to find a seamless connection between the two. Selected amongst India's Top 30 Under 45 design disruptors by Forbes magazine in 2023, Roshni has also taught design to architecture students at Rachana Sansad, Mumbai. She is hoping to see entries that showcase an innovative response to the design brief and the context.
“I’d like to see designs that are built consciously to impact the user and their surroundings,” she says.
Interior designer Pam Durante’s impressive design background is in the hospitality industry as well as high end residential properties. Her many years designing for luxury hotels has included working with hotelier Ian Schrager on the Royalton and Paramount Hotels across Europe. She went on to set up her New York-based practice, Atelier Durante Interior Design, PLLC, in 1994. She is a faculty member at the New York School of Interior Design and strongly advocates to her students and colleagues the advancement of licensure for the interior design profession. She emphasises the importance of quality imagery in capturing the necessary design detail for an award win.
“After the design and installation is complete, the next most important step is to have a great photographer,” Pam says.
“In some cases, interior designers will also use an interior stylist to do the final editing of the space for best photography. They bring in flowers, some accessories perhaps and usually work closely with the photographer as they are shooting the images. This gives them an opportunity to shift things around to capture the most important features that add to and make the story complete.”