Dallas—Judging is currently underway for the sixth annual Daltile Interior Design Scholarship Competition, presented by the ASID Foundation. The designs entered by college students nationwide exemplify that tile is now widely used as a design element in today’s interior design world.
“Over the last five years, tile has emerged as a design element, whereas in the past, it was a utilitarian product,” said Shelly Halbert, director of product design for Dal-Tile and one of the judges for this year’s competition. “Five years ago we considered our Daltile products part of the tile industry. Today, they are part of the larger interior design industry.”
The 2017 competition challenged college students to reimagine the Booz Allen Hamilton Innovation Center in Washington, D.C., and to incorporate at least two Daltile products in their design vision. Daltile will award $27,500 in scholarships to aspiring interior design students who entered the competition from across the country. The panel of four judges is comprised of professionals from Daltile, OTJ Architects, Booz Allen Hamilton, and last year’s winner, Kristina Tribell of Abel Design Group. Winners will be announced on Nov. 15 at the Daltile Philadelphia Design Studio during NeoCon East 2017 in Philadelphia.
“While reviewing this year’s contest entries, I’ve noticed several consistencies among these young designers,” Halbert said. “As far as their overall style, student designs are generally falling into either modern or organic. Given free rein to use any two Daltile products in their concepts, the contestants overwhelmingly selected products that reflect many of today’s hottest trends in their tile choices—neutral colors and marble-looks, including white, gray and black, as well as traditional marbles in beige and brown. Lots of wood-look tiles, large format tiles and slabs, concrete looks and fabric-inspired tile products were also used. A few submissions showcase a blending of materials, such as wood-look and concrete-look tiles, creating eye-catching designs.”
For more information, visit daltiledesign.com.