The City of Clarence is delighted to officially announce the winner of the prestigious 2025 Clarence Prize, Ash Allen, for his piece Beanless.
Two additional prizes have also been announced, the Highly Commended Prize to Adam Markowitz and Ruth Allen for Kindling and the Emerging Designer Prize to Jess Humpston for Ballast.
Held biennially, the Clarence Prize is one of Australia’s most significant awards for contemporary furniture design and is renowned for showcasing the most innovative and exceptional furniture designers in the nation.
The Clarence Prize is the richest acquisitive furniture design prize in the country with the winning piece awarded $20,000 and acquired into the City of Clarence Art Collection.
Two additional non-acquisitive prizes of $1,500 are awarded to a Highly Commended and Emerging Designer.
City of Clarence Mayor Brendan Blomeley said that the Clarence Prize not only reflects the strength and ambition of Australian design today but cements the city’s growing reputation as a cultural destination.
“The Clarence Prize is recognised across the country for its prestige and influence, and proves that world-class design isn’t just found in global capitals – it’s being fostered and honoured right here in Clarence.”
“Hosting a design event of this calibre creates extraordinary opportunities for aspiring designers, students, and our wider community to engage with world-class furniture design in their own backyard.”
This year’s winners were selected from a shortlist of fifteen finalists who were invited to present their realised designs for exhibition and judging at Rosny Farm, including three Tasmanian designers. With the finalists in turn selected from many entries received for the prestigious biennial Prize this year from around Australia.
“Congratulations to Ash Allen and, on behalf of the City of Clarence, I want to express how thrilled we are to be acquiring Ash’s incredible piece into our permanent collection to be preserved for future generations to admire.”
For his winning piece, Melbourne-based designer Ash Allen transformed the humble beanbag into an heirloom-quality design object crafted from Australian-made steel mesh flocked in deep red.
Through this design process, Allen developed a unique process of wrapping and welding steel mesh around timber moulds to create strong, translucent structures with shifting opacity.
The winners will be publicly announced this Saturday 6 September at an Official Opening Event at The Barn at Rosny Farm, Tasmania’s premier arts and culture precinct, at 5pm.
The 2025 Clarence Prize Exhibition showcasing the incredible honour roll of finalists from around the country will be open to the public from Sunday 7 September until Sunday 5 October at Rosny Barn.
More information on the Clarence Prize can be found on the Rosny Farm website.