Collect Craft Award 2022: Christian Ovonlen wins top design award for bold, vibrant silk designs

Christian Ovonlen has won the Brookfield Properties Craft Award for 2022 with his series of theatrical, hand painted and printed silks.

The award, in partnership with Crafts Council, is a leading craft prize for UK-based artists and worth £60,000. Now in its third year, Ovonlen follows in the footsteps of previous winners Anna Ray in 2021 and Matt Smith in 2020.

Represented by Intoart, a London-based collective of artists and designers with learning disabilities, Ovonlen took inspiration from the Ballet Russes for his series of printed vertical silks, currently exhibiting at Collect 2022.

Known for his unique method of taking drawing into textiles, Ovonlen said of his win, “I feel happy. It’s beautiful and amazing.”

“The dancers in my silks are like a melody. I am excited to make more textiles, painting the inks and the performers on the stage.”

He was awarded the prize by Annabelle Campbell and Saff Williams, curators at Crafts Council and Brookfield Properties respectively.

“When [we] walked into the Intoart studio in Peckham, we were blown away by the colours and movement in Christian’s work,” says Williams. “His figures appear to lift off the silks, dancing across the fabric, bold in line and brushwork.”

Selected from a shortlist of five nominated artists – Anthony Amoako-Attah, Dawn Bendick, Cecilia Charlton and Irina Razumovskaya – Ovonlen’s works will be exhibited across Brookfield Properties’ 99 Bishopsgate and Aldgate Tower from 1 June to 31 July 2022.

In addition, artworks from his Ballets Russes and Botanical Silk series will be acquired for the Crafts Council Collection by Brookfield Properties, meaning Ovonlen’s work can be seen and enjoyed by the public for many years to come.