Shumi Love Design at the A'Design Award 2016 ceremony

Receiving an award at an international design competition is a very pleasant fact on its own, which serves as a confirmation of professional level for any player in the industry. But when it comes to A’Design Award & Competition the award ceremony itself is so vibrant and festive that it would be wrong to not tell the readers more about it. That’s why we’ve asked the creative director of Shumi Love Design, Valerii Shumilov, to share his impressions about the event and tell us how it all went down.

“First of all I would like to tell a little bit about the actual place where the award ceremony for A’Design Award & Competition has taken place. Every year the event is held in the small town of Como located at the lake of the same name in Alps, right next to Switzerland. It is a very picturesque location slightly different from the expectations people usually have about Italy, with a very rich cultural heritage and many breathtaking views. The town is full of old villas, palaces and historical buildings. Traditionally, the award ceremony was held in one of such places.

This year the contest organizers were greeting the winners in the famous Villa Olmo located outside the historical center right at the shore of the lake. This neoclassical building is hardly a villa, more like a palace with a huge park and a pier of its own. Back in the day, the villa was used as a summer retreat for the aristocracy.  Today, however it serves as an exhibition and event center. Frankly speaking, the place itself deserves special attention – the interior is so rich and diverse!

As a tradition of my own, I went by the villa in the morning before the award ceremony to see how the preparations are going and get a full charge of energy for the day to come. Of course, when I saw the A’Design banners at the entrance and the people busy with the preparations I started hearing a rising drumroll in my head. Even if I was there for a third time already, the anticipation and excitement persisted up until the ceremony.

The climax of this agitation was obviously the gala event, which has drawn hundreds of industry players from all around the globe. There were people from top branding, advertising and design agencies, successful freelancers, and even design students making their first steps in the domain. I haven’t seen many familiar faces since the award ceremony was divided into blocks and held in a separate hall, which simply couldn’t house all the participants at once. First, the jury summoned platinum and gold award winners, then silver award and then bronze award winners.

Of course, when I heard my and the design agency’s name from the stage, my heart was ready to burst from my chest. But it wasn’t due to anxiety or nervousness, no. The very fact that the agency was awarded with not one but five medals served as a firm confirmation that we’re on the right path and all the hard work invested in these projects wasn’t done in vain. And of course, it’s also a badge of professional distinction, a confirmation of level and status that the agency has reached in only a couple of years. The moment I was given the award on stage I was very happy and proud of the things I’ve achieved. 

The event was very prolonged, the winners were coming and going, and it was rather hard to talk to someone. Everybody was electrified with anticipation, so I haven’t managed to discuss the current global design trends with anyone. Too bad, but the gala event was still a success and will remain as a great memory for a very long time.

Events like this one serve as a great boost for professional growth and progress. Of course, some people may take the award as an excuse for pause and stagnation: like, here we are at the top, now we can enjoy ourselves and relax. But not my agency. On the contrary, we’ll keep on working even harder and invest more effort into our work so that the number of awards at the next year’s competition would be even larger!”