During the annual international New York Design Week jot.jot was honored with the prestigious NYCxDESIGN Award for the second year in a row. This year the company was appreciated for the exclusive BaBa modular sofa and easy-chair.
NYCxDESIGN Awards are presented by Interior Design magazine, which has been the essential design authority for every professional, on all projects, throughout the design process for over 80 years, and ICFF (The International Contemporary Furniture Fair) organizers. In this year’s competition for the awards their luck tried such well known interior design trademarks as “Zanotta”, “Vitra”, “Moroso”, “Knoll”, “Ligne roset”, “Marset”, “Flos”, “Baxter” and others.
jot.jot’s modular sofa and easy chair BaBa is this year’s winner in “Seating, Contract, Lounge” category. It was created by widely known designers from Denmark – Boris Berlin and Aleksej Iskos (“Iskos-Berlin Design”). Their designed products supplement the collections of such famous interior design companies as “Fritz Hansen”, “Muuto”, “Hay”, “MENU” etc. Moreover, some of their designed furniture is kept in the MoMA (The Museum of the Modern Art) collection in New York City.
One of jot.jot founders and owners Jurgis Garmus claims that he has a vision the whole team believes in. “I think we had found the identity of our trademark”, states J. Garmus and continues “to persuade Iskos-Berlin designers to work together with us was not easy and, to be honest, I still don’t know how we managed this. The very first meeting took place in Copenhagen and it was quite timid and very long (for almost 11 hours)”. Nevertheless, the negotiations were successful, as the long-term cooperation developed between jot.jot and Danish designers. “It took more than a year to create modular sofa and easy-chair BaBa”, confesses Jurgis Garmus and adds “this furniture is made of casted foam, therefore the large cast molds were needed. Whereas, the easy-chair’s “skeleton”, in other words, supporting construction is the inner metal frame, which was designed in the way that it could not be felt while sitting”.
From the first sight this easy-chair looks quite simple, however, to “dress” its construction with a textile was a great challenge. “We needed exceptionally stretchy material, therefore we have used a special fabric from the Dutch producer Febrik”, says J. Garmus.
One more jot.jot product has been announced a 2018 NYCxDESIGN Awards Finalist in the “Tables, Residential, Coffee/Side” category, which is Loop side table, designed by Lukas Gstöttner and Verena Waidmann (“studio bonpart”). The direct, intensive experience with the distinctive qualities of a material, is an important part of their developing philosophy. Their work can be characterized as modest and clear-lined but always with a playful twist.
In 2017 jot.jot product Mudu mirror, which was created in cooperation with Lithuanian company “Heima architects”, was also the NYCxDESIGN Awards winner in the Interior Design Accessories category. “During the Yew York Design Week a lot of events are taking place, however, the last year, I and my business partner Laurynas Kerpė arrived only for the NYCxDESIGN Awards ceremony. We had no hopes or even thoughts to win the award. We thought that to be nominated was already a great success and honor. Therefore, as we were announced as the winners, the excitement was overwhelming, though still we couldn’t get rid of the feeling that it was just a coincidence,” tells J. Garmus “but when we heard our company’s name as the winner in this year’s NYCxDESIGN Awards ceremony on the 21st of May, we were convinced that the design direction we have chosen is not at all a coincidence”.
This year jot.jot was participating not only in the NYCxDESIGN Awards ceremony, but in one more New York Design Week event – the international furniture fair ICFF.