16 winners were selected
out of 158 works from 32 countries

NEWSFish Hammer: A smashingly hilarious piece with a message

We are calling for entrants from all over the world to show us how you nail the art of fabrication.
We want to challenge the idea of sensible, defying sound judgement and “hack” common sense.
We are truly looking forward to seeing entries that align with this spirit and are looking to support such works.
Even if the output is in its drafting stages we will evaluate the attempt and future potentials of the work.

This Year's Theme

2018 RESULTS

We are thrilled to announce the 16 winners of the YouFab Global Creative Awards 2018.
The winners were selected out of 158 works from 32 countries.
The winning works will be displayed at kudan house (Tokyo) from Feb 17th to Mar 3th, 2019.

Fish Hammer

Neil Mendoza

GRAND PRIZE

Mind in the Machine

Ani Liu

FIRST PRIZE

Fusion

MHD Yamen Saraiji, Tomoya Sasaki

STUDENT
AWARD

Typhoon I

Michael Koehle

GENERAL
AWARD

Hack the Natural Objects.

GADARA

LION
AWARD

SEE WINNERS

2018OUTLINE

Polemica!!

How do you rebel? And against what?

SUBMISSIONS

Submissions should be creative experiments, works and inventions that stem from powerful collaborations between digital and physical fabrication.
These submissions can encompass physical products, art, architecture, or intangible projects such as performing arts, events, workshops and experiments.

A condition of entry is that the submitted work be in its completed/operational form, not left in the conceptual phase as design plans or proposals.
Submissions can be something that has already been launched, or something yet to be unveiled.

SEE ENTRY INFO

JUDGES

Kei Wakabayashi

Editor

Kei Wakabayashi

Editor

Kei Wakabayashi was born in 1971 and spent his early childhood in London and New York. After graduating from the School of Humanities and Social Sciences in French Studies at Waseda University, he joined Heibonsha, and became part of the editorial department for "Gekkan Taiyo." In 2000, became an independent editor. Afterward, he edited a wide range of publications, including magazines, books, and exhibition records, and became active as a music journalist. He was assigned as the Chief Editor for the Japanese edition of "WIRED" in 2012, and left the post in 2017. In 2018, he launched blkswn publishers, Inc. and authored the book, "Sayonara Mirai" (Goodbye, Future), published by Iwanami Shoten (April 2018).
Gerfried Stocker

Artistic and Managing Director of
Ars Electronica

Gerfried Stocker

Artistic and Managing Director of
Ars Electronica

Since 1995 he has been a managing and an artistic director of Ars Electronica. 1995/1996 he developed the groundbreaking exhibition strategies of Ars Electronica Center with a small team of artists and technicians and was responsible for the set-up and establishment of Ars Electronica’s own R&D facility, Ars Electronica Futurelab. Since 2004 he has been in charge of developing Ars Electronica’s program of international exhibition tours. From 2005 on he planned the expansion of Ars Electronica Center and implemented the total substantive makeover of its exhibits. Stocker is a guest speaker at many international conferences and a Visiting Professor at Osaka University of Arts as well as guest lecturer at Deusto University Bilbao. He is also a consultant for many international companies on creativity and innovation management.
Julia Cassim

Professor at KYOTO Design Lab
Kyoto Institute of Technology

Julia Cassim

Professor at KYOTO Design Lab
Kyoto Institute of Technology

Julia Cassim’s career spans the worlds of art, design, museum studies and social activism. She studied fine art at Manchester College of Art and Design and Tokyo University of the Arts on a Japanese Government scholarship. She has an MPhil from the International Centre for Heritage Studies at the University of Newcastle and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Art (RCA) and of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) and is an international authority on inclusive design. The 24 and 48 Hour Inclusive Design Challenges she organised at the RCA Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design have been held in 21 cities worldwide, involved over 800 designers and were the subject of an exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum in 2010.

In May 2014, she was appointed Professor at the KYOTO Design Lab, a centre for interdisciplinary design innovation at the Kyoto Institute of Technology. A recent project bringing together science and design won a Dutch Design Award in 2016. She was included in Design Week’s ‘Hot 50’ list of people who most influenced the design world in 2010.
Satoshi Yoshiizumi

TAKT PROJECT Inc., Representative
Designer/Creative Director

Satoshi Yoshiizumi

TAKT PROJECT Inc., Representative
Designer/Creative Director

Mr. Yoshiizumi has undertaken various projects seeking to “create other possibilities” through design. He has conducted experimental independent research projects and presented the results at the Milan Design Week, DesignMiami, Maison & Objet Paris, Hong Kong M+, and other domestic and international art museums and design events. Yoshiizumi collaborates with various clients, taking a unique approach which maximizes the role of design in projects based on research findings.

His work has been collected at the Hong Kong M+ museum. He has also received many domestic and international awards, including the DesignMiami/ Swarovski Designers of the Future Award. In 2018, he was a GOOD DESIGN AWARD 2018 Jury Member.
Chiaki Hayashi

Loftwork Inc. Co-founder

Chiaki Hayashi

Loftwork Inc. Co-founder

Co-founded Loftwork Inc. in 2000, which rolls out the diversely projects including web, community, and spatial design initiatives.
The agency operates multiple services: “FabCafe”, a digital manufacturing cafe, and “MTRL”, a creative space for creators, “AWRD”, a platform to promote co-creation with creators. She also serves as the Japan Liaison to the Director of MIT Media Lab, and CEO of Hidakuma. Hidakuma is a new form of public-private joint enterprise, which aims to create regional industries through traditional techniques and forest regeneration.

AWARDS

Grand Prize
Trophy / Prize 1000 USD
First Prize
Trophy / Prize 500 USD
Student Category Award
Certificate / Prize 300 USD
General Category Award
Certificate / Prize 300 USD
Lion Special Prize Award
Certificate / 1000 USD
Finalists Certificate

SEE ENTRY INFO

SPECIAL PRIZE

YouFab 2018 grants the “Lion Award” as a special prize in collaboration with Lion Corporation.
The theme for the award is “MERGE ‒ A future where work and life merge together” .
For those with works related to the theme, it is possible to apply for the Lion Award along with the YouFab 2018 application.

SEE SPECIAL AWARD

MESSAGES

Messages of encouragement from leading players in the FAB field from various industries.

Shigeru Kobayashi

Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences (IAMAS) Professor

Shigeru Kobayashi

Institute of Advanced Media Arts and Sciences (IAMAS) Professor

It was in 2012, when digital fabrication was still in its infancy, that the first ever YouFab event was held. Six years have since passed, and digital fabrication has since become a common technology. During this period, there have been cycles of many people creating experimental pieces that explore possibilities of digital fabrication, which then inspire people who see them and drive new creative pieces that delve into even newer possibilities. After such a period, I think these pieces that embody lateral thinking are utilizing this mature technology to its full potential. This seriously attempt to change people's conventional ideas are what we are expecting this year. I expect to see many works that convey creators' passion behind their expression of digital structure and production.

Chiaki Hayashi

Loftwork Inc. Co-founder

Chiaki Hayashi

Loftwork Inc. Co-founder

When I think about an unforgettable movie, the film "Léon" always comes to mind. It's a crazy, sad story about an innocent girl named Matilda and a lonely hit man, Léon. At that time, my brother, who watched the movie with me during the time of rental videos, suddenly started doing push ups. It seems that when humans see something incredibly cool, they will imitate it, thinking, "I want to become like that."

Is it not the same for creativity? Through YouFab, creations that combine the digital and physical are being gathered from all over the world. There is no doubt that overwhelming coolness captures people's hearts and gives birth to new challenges. I look forward to meeting these powerful creations that spread creativity.

Gabriela Garzo Elizondo

Professor at TEC DE MONTERREY

Gabriela Garzo Elizondo

Professor at TEC DE MONTERREY

Ideas don't have to stay on the back of the napkin anymore. With every emerging technology, we have the tools and the nature, not only to imagine but to turn ideas into reality. Devices such as CNC routers, metal lathes, 3D Printers and laser cut machines, are tools that support us to bring our inventions to life. Objects such as robots, furniture, jewelry, mockups and other prototypes can be "fab up". I invite you to start envisioning your concepts and design the never before imaginable. Don't doubt or hesitate to make them, they might turn into something very interesting that people all over the world can see and use.

Amy Karle

Artist, Designer, Futurist

Amy Karle

Artist, Designer, Futurist

Our exponential technologies and contemporary fabrication tools are more than just tools, they are a way of thinking and an opportunity to conceive of and create things that have never been possible before. Many of the leaders in digital fabrication share the values of leveraging these tools to positively impact humanity.

YouFab is a celebration and an international showcase of this community coming together, this practice and this way of thinking. It is both recognition of individual achievements and recognition of a collective community using fabrication tools to create works that can shape our future.

Satoshi Yoshiizumi

TAKT PROJECT Inc., Representative,
Designer/Creative Director

Satoshi Yoshiizumi

TAKT PROJECT Inc., Representative,
Designer/Creative Director

When I hear "fab", the keyword "materialization" comes to my mind. Materialization in this sense is an act that brings about a liberalization of creation in our own hands, releasing things unimaginable up until now. Material did not mean a commonly recalled material / raw material but material in a broad sense that evokes a sense of creation. It is this meaning that evokes imagination. Without setting boundaries, we allow our objects of creation to materialize.

Such is the fab that creates a new world, however, the most the important thing for us is to set the question of what will be the beginning of our next creation. This means that when something is not seen as an object of creation, we need to cast doubt on this by using our imagination as our imagination allows us to cast doubt on this fact. I am looking forward to meeting such ambitious questions through these awards.

Julia Cassim

Professor at KYOTO Design Lab Kyoto Institute of Technology

Julia Cassim

Professor at KYOTO Design Lab Kyoto Institute of Technology

When digital fabrication became an affordable reality, different scenarios - negative and positive alike - emerged about its use. Alongside the frightening implications of the first 3D printed gun were more groundbreaking and democratic uses for the technology particularly in the area of prosthetics and orthotics. For the first time, disabled people, irrespective of economic context, could customise the intimate extensions to their body in ways that helped eliminate stigma and regain control over their body image for a fraction of the previous cost. The YouFab Awards offer a unique international forum for creative dreamers to imagine such revolutionary new futures for this technology. Get dreaming!

Gerfried Stocker

Artistic and Managing Director of Ars Electronica

Gerfried Stocker

Artistic and Managing Director of Ars Electronica

New technologies need new creativity! Thats why it is so important that artists are challenging the way how we think about technology and come up with their very own new and surprising ideas.

What I like in particular about this award is the aim to bring together people from different backgrounds and generations.

I encourage you to submit your work and to use this great opportunity, to capture us with totally new creative and inspiring ideas with regards to digital fabrication and finally for activities surrounding "YouFab" 2018.