Although it’s been a minute since we wrapped up On the Rise + OFFF experience, it’s never too late to reminisce and celebrate everything that went on stage and behind the scenes.
If you need a refresh or have yet to hear about it, On the Rise is a project-based competition for emerging creative professionals to showcase their work on the main stage of the OFFF Barcelona festival. This was the second year running the competition, this time with a special focus on projects designed for social good.
We were overjoyed by the amount of submissions we received, and excited to see so much of the talent out there being poured out towards a positive change in the world. After sifting through the projects, and with the careful consideration of our trusted panel of judges, the four final winners were selected, each in their own category - Graphic design, Illustration, 3D and Motion, and Web Design.
The highlight of the competition was of course the event held on stage and hosted by the brilliant Dines, but we always love the chance to put our winners in the spotlight one more time.
So without further ado, let’s get to know the four talented winners and the projects that got them on stage:
Category | Illustration
Winner | Luka van Diepen
Project | Angoulême
Judge | Eva Cremers
Luka van Diepen is an illustrator with a passion for animation, who is endlessly fascinated by the seemingly mundane. Using different forms and techniques such as painting with acrylic or 3D rendering, Luka highlights objects, places and moments that create the everyday.
For this project—Angoulême—Luka was inspired by some of his long-time heroes in animation and film (Michael Dudok de Wit, and Wes Anderson to name a few) who have spent time in Angoulême - a small city in southwestern France. He set out to explore the city’s secret, the hidden magic of those specific French waters. The quest resulted in this beautiful stack of delicately painted postcards and recordings of everyday life.
Category | Web Design
Winners | Ana Holschuh Heras & Matias Campa
Project | Street of Sound
Judge | Jamhot
The winning project for this category was created by a duo - Ana Holschuh Heras & Matias Campa. Ana is a designer, researcher, and illustrator deeply passionate about using community-based design, media and art to create a positive social impact. Matias is a documentarist, photographer and music curator passionate about the intersection between cities and art in public space.
Combining their passions and skills, they created Street of Sound - a video documentary project that showcases not only the talent, but also the personal stories of street musicians and emerging artists, providing them with the platform and audience they deserve.
The project was born during the Covid-19 pandemic, when all the cultural venues New York City usually thrives on have closed down. Ana and Matias say: “We started seeing more musicians and performers sharing their art in public space, and we wanted to shine a light on their art through high quality recordings. Street musicians have always shaped the very identity of cities, and brought cultural value that is often overlooked, misused, and very poorly regarded. We want to change that.”
Category | 3D and Motion
Winner | Mickaël Mehala aka Black Childish
Project | Omek Summit x Africadelic
Judge | Rizon Parein
Black Childish is a Martinican (French Caribbean) illustrator based in Amsterdam. Drawing inspiration from his Caribbean cultural heritage, as well as from music and pop culture, his colorful and playful work experiments with techniques, mediums, and styles.
His winning project is the design for a cultural festival by Omek - a community based network designed to make connection and collaboration simple for the African diaspora professionals and their allies. The festival’s vision was to empower the community through music events, films, talks, networking sessions, parties and more.
The chosen creative was the calabash tree and its fruit - a symbolic object that contains nourishment, is passed from generation to generation, and has a rich culture embedded into the engravings and colorful painted patterns.
Category | Graphic Design
Winner | Illia Dolbniev
Project | O–PLICH–®
Judge | Studio Baillat
Last but not least, our fourth winner is Illia Dolbniev, in the Graphic Design category. Warsaw based Dolbniev is a creative director free-floating between graphic design, photography, fashion, new media & performative arts, architecture, and experimental music.
His winning project - O–PLICH–® - is an apparel brand born as a response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Translating as ‘Shoulder to shoulder’, meaning together, side-by-side — the word precisely captures the spirit of the initiative. Consisting of Ukrainian creatives based all around Europe, the project aims to reshape the notion of contemporary Ukrainian culture through design, as well as to support the people affected by the war, local volunteers, and defenders, through organizing fundraising campaigns and events across Europe.
