A Turkish fashion label established in 1992 by sisters Ece and Ayşe Ege has has been announced winner of the £25,000 Jameel Prize 3. The founders of Dice Kayek were presented with the prize during a ceremony at the V&A on Tuesday 10 December for their Istanbul Contrast (2010) collection that evokes the architectural and artistic heritage of Istanbul. The sisters were born in Bursa, Turkey, and now live and work between Istanbul and Paris.
The biennial award was conceived following the renovation of the V&A’s Jameel Gallery of Islamic Art in 2006. It aims to raise awareness of the thriving interaction between contemporary practice and Islamic historical heritage, and to broaden understanding of Islamic culture and its place in the world. An exhibition of this year’s ten shortlisted artists and designers is currently on show at the V&A, London until 21 April 2014.
Dice Kayek is exhibiting three of the 26 designs from Istanbul Contrast: Caftan is made of hand-woven lamé brocade and the reworked robes worn by the city’s former Ottoman rulers; Dome 2 uses folded cotton organdy to echo the ribs of lead-covered domes of the city’s mosques and palaces; and Hagia Sophia is a white satin coat with complex, hand-stitched embroidery that incorporates ancient glass beads and was inspired by Byzantine mosaics.
Martin Roth, Director of the V&A and chair of the panel of judges said: “We were struck by the way that Dice Kayek’s work uses Islamic inspiration in a completely secular context, taking it into a new world, that of contemporary fashion. Their interpretation of Islamic traditions in the three garments displayed makes them truly deserving winners of the Jameel Prize 3.”
The nine other shortlisted artists and designers are: Faig Ahmed, Nasser Al Salem, Nada Debs, Mounir Fatmi, Rahul Jain, Waqas Khan, Laurent Mareschal, Florie Salnot and Pascal Zoghbi.
This year’s panel of judges also included: Thomas Heatherwick, designer and founder of Heatherwick Studio; Rashid Koraïchi, artist and winner of the Jameel Prize 2011; Nada Shabout, Associate Professor of Art History and the Director of the Contemporary Arab and Muslim Cultural Studies Institute (CAMCSI) at the University of North Texas, USA; and Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès, Founding Director of the Khatt Foundation, Center for Arabic Typography.
Jameel Prize 3 continues at the V&A, London until 21 April 2014. www.vam.ac.uk
