Design Community Newcomer Wins Prestigious Design Contest Posted: Jan 2020 Posted by: Mats Inc.
Salma Teekay of Spector Group in New York City submitted the winning red carpet pattern for the design community’s most prestigious events, Interior Design Hall of Fame and Best of Year.
Mats Inc. and Interior Design magazine teamed up to create the contest to promote the new Graffiti entrance matting line, showcase some of the design world’s amazing talent and provide a special red carpet to greet the guests at the events. The contest ran for seven weeks from early September through late October and the rules limited participants to select from six specific Graffiti colors, Asphalt, Chalk, Concrete, Festival, Neon, and Subway that would coordinate with the event’s decor.
There were more than 130 entries and two submitted by Spector Group team members made it into the top twenty-two. You can check out the top twenty-two submissions on the Interior Design Red Carpet Gallery.
JoAnn Durette, Mats Inc. vice president of marketing and Interior Design’s editor-in-chief, Cindy Allen met to choose the winning design based on “wow factor” and manufacturability. Salma’s design rose to the top, and we went to work to develop the pattern repeat, determine material requirements and produce the “red” carpet. We thought Salma would like to see how her design came to life so we captured some of the Graffiti production process, which you can watch on MatsIncTV.
It was Salma’s design director at Spector Group who encouraged her and several other young designers on the team to create patterns for the contest. Salma told us that it was the spirit of unity in diversity in a divisive political climate that inspired her design. She felt that the amalgamation of colors best represented that spirit.
As the contest winner, Salma and her guest received tickets to attend the Hall of Fame and Best of Year events at the Javitz Center on December 5th and 6th. When we asked her what she thought when she first saw her design in the 124’ “red” carpet she said, “It was so beautiful, it was overwhelming”. She expressed feeling inspired after the back-to-back events. While each of the four Hall of Fame inductees had arrived at this moment of recognition on their own unique and impressive journeys, Salma was especially inspired by Paula Wallace who began her career as an elementary school teacher and founded the Savanah College of Art & Design without a design degree.
From a young age, Salma knew that she would become a designer. She grew up in Bangalore where her family still resides. Salma graduated from the R.V College of Engineering in Bangalore with a Bachelor of Architecture degree before heading to the University of Michigan for her Master of Architecture degree. With only 2-1/2 years under her belt as a designer, Salma is still very fresh on the scene and has just recently started running full projects.
Congratulations to Salma! We wish her continued success.
Categories: Architect & Designer News
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