Newcomer 2013
Winner

Siren Elise Wilhelmsen

At the German Design Awards 2013, Siren Elise Wilhelmsen was honoured as Newcomer of the Year. Born in Norway and based in Berlin, she creates designs that combine functionality, personality, and interaction in fresh and meaningful ways.

Siren Elise Wilhelmsen was born in Norway in 1982. The industrial designer has lived in Berlin since 2002. After graduating from Berlin University of the Arts (UdK) in 2010, she founded her own company, Siren Wilhelmsen Design Studios, that same year. In accordance with how she sees herself as a designer, in her work she seeks “to combine functional and sustainable design with personality, humour and communication, to create products that constitute a challenge and a new form of interaction in relation to how people encounter their environment.” Before establishing her own studio Siren Elise Wilhelmsen worked as a student assistant at the UdK Berlin from 2007 until 2008. She gained experience working as a project assistant, for instance at Studio Ramberg (model making, 2009) and Studio Hausen (exhibition booth design for CAMPER, 2010). The young designer has received numerous scholarships and awards, including the New Talent Award (winner) from Time to Design (2010) and the 2011 Design Report Award Special mention.