Helen Kountouris was declared the best designer out of a group of 420 designers for her overall work

Greek Australian designer Helen Kountouris has taken out the people’s choice award for Designer of the Year at this year’s IDEA awards held last Friday at the Seymour Centre in Sydney.

The designer was declared the best designer out of a group of 420 designers for her overall work, but it was only three years ago in 2009 when she won the same award.

“It was quite a shock,” Helen tells Neos Kosmos of winning the award again, “it’s voted by your peers and the general public and you don’t’ find out until the night.”

The designer, who has recently become a mum to nine-month-old Sophia, has launched her own brand Helen Kountouris brand in June this year.

The Panier Stool is the first product released under this brand, but she says she is still designing for European brands. Next year she plans on launching more products under her own brand.

“I am really excited,” says Helen.

“I’ve always wanted to look at producing products under my own brand but had concentrated on working with large European brands for a long time., but having a little baby and knowing that I wasn’t able to travel quite as frequently solidified my idea that now is the right time to produce products under my own brand.”

According to the IDEA official website, Kontouris’ entry this year in the Object – Furniture and Lighting category was the Panier stool, a low-standing stool that directly references the intricate techniques and geometric patterns of traditional basket weaves.

Clean lines and a tapering form provide a familiar aesthetic, and the highly adaptable stool sits comfortably within both commercial and residential environments. The choice of locally produced and rotationally-moulded polyethylene also ensured an energy-efficient manufacturing process.

Kontouris has presented her design work in Italy, Germany, the USA, the UK, Spain and in other countries, where her talent has been appraised. Celda, Ritzenhoff, Kundalini and Schiavellos are some of the international interior design companies promoting her work worldwide.