Another good news comes from UPH Interior Design Student, Greta Elsa Nurtjahja, for her success in winning the Asia Young Designer of the Year at the Asia Young Designer Awards (AYDA) Grand Finale 2020, in Vietnam, 10 July 2020.

This international achievement is a continuation from the UPH Interior Design’s achievement as Gold Winner at the national level which was announced on January 17, 2020. Now Greta has again obtained the highest achievement at the Asian level, earning the title “Asia Young Designer of The Year” in Interior Design category. Greta was awarded more than US $ 10,000, including the opportunity to attend the 6-weeks Design Discovery program at Harvard University Graduate School of Design in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Greta outperformed more than 7,000 participants from 15 countries, in a rigorous selection process to determine the winners in two categories, Architecture and Interior Design.

Unlike previous years, this year’s competition was conducted virtually, considering the limitations caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. The theme of this year’s international competition is “Forward: a Sustainable Future”, aiming to direct participants towards the ability to answer various challenges in order to improve the quality of community and its environment. Nippon Paint and AYDA as organizers aim to nurture generations of architects and interior designers to create more sustainable design concepts in their projects that will reduce negative impacts on the environment and ultimately improve quality of life.

The design presented by Greta carries the theme “Coffee House” / “Rumah Kopi”, a unique communal place applying local knowledge for the needs of making a dwelling place for young villagers and space to increase the productivity of the community in processing coffee products. The concept of “Coffee House” is unique for its successful combination of cultural, social, environmental, and economic aspects while minimizing environmental impacts.

The work “Rumah Kopi” received awards and praise from the judges as a work that exceeded expectations. “We are proud of the impressive work of designers from various countries. Greta Elsa Nurtjahja surpassed expectations in this competition with the level of detail and vision in her designs,” Lea Aziz, one of the judges from the Interior Design Category and Founder of PT ElenbeeCipta Desain, told the media.

Related to the Covid-19 outbreak, Nippon Paint made the decision to give this year’s award virtually, where the finalists from the Interior Design and Architecture Category were assessed on July 8 and 9 respectively, and were involved in an in-depth Q&A session with the international judges. The highlight of the award ceremony was broadcasted live via Zoom and Youtube channel on July 10, 2020.

For this outstanding achievement, Phebe Valencia, the Head of the Interior Design Study Program?UPH School of Design, praised the students’ persistence, patience, diligence, and efforts to always try new things, so they can win competitions up to the International level.

“I am so proud, Interior Design student (2014) Greta Elsa Nurtjahja can carry the name UPH and the name of Indonesia in Asia. Hopefully, in the future, there will be young interior designers who always compete to find out their abilities and not hesitate to always learn to be better,” said Phebe.

The achievements of UPH Interior Design students in the AYDA event are truly outstanding. The Gold Winner at the national level was achieved for two consecutive years, 2018/2019 and 2019/2020. And this year it manages to reach International level. This proves the excellence of learning in UPH Interior Design, which is not only strong in the design disciplines but also consistent in character development, to become a reliable designer, through experimentation, exploration, daring to fail, daring to try new things, and a passion to continually pursue excellence.

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