When artists, designers, industry resources, and clients work together, common places are transformed into spectacular spaces. CODAworx, the hub of the commissioned art economy, has once again partnered with Interior Design magazine to announce the winners of the seventh annual international CODAawards: Collaboration of Design + Art. The CODAawards recognize collaborations that result in outstanding projects, which successfully integrate commissioned art into interior, architectural, or public spaces.

In the fall of 2017, the Waunakee Area Public Arts Committee (WAPAC) fundraised for the purpose of commissioning an artist to design, fabricate, and install a sculpture to champion the theme of “celebrating teachers, staff, students, and excellence in education.” The WAPAC wanted a public sculpture that would enhance a heavily trafficked public location and create an experience for all who gather there. The chosen site was the entrance to the high school because it hosts many community events and is where they could celebrate students of all ages. After narrowing the applications and hearing presentations facilitated by CODAworx from three highly qualified candidates, WAPAC selected California artist Michael Kalish.

In early 2019, Seattle artist Susan Zoccola installed a beautiful staircase sculpture for finance company RW Baird on the 56th and 57th floors of an office building in downtown Chicago. The warm metal sculpture, consisted of two “River” panels, one copper and one aluminum, spaced inches apart, creating a dynamic visual that changed depending on the viewer’s vantage when climbing the stairs. It was instantly a success with clients, employees, and executives alike.

The curve and sweep of Joe Gitterman’s sculptures reflect a lifelong fascination with the physical dynamics and emotional impact of dance. “I have always been passionate about dance performance. As an audience member, I am intrigued by the constant change of shapes and the seemingly endless variety of forms. My passion is trying to turn a fluid motion into a three-dimensional item.”

“Visual art, literature and music have always been important parts of my own creative expression,” says Elizabeth Nguyen-Espinoza. “But as a person who had experienced hardship as a child, I know that in order to be a fully creative person, our basic life needs have to be met - including good health. When I shared my ideas about starting a gallery as well as a foundation that would be part of making positive change in the lives of children, the artists in my community showed great interest and followed up with their support.”

“To work with textiles is to work with patterns,” says Denmark-based designer Astrid Krogh, whose sculptures transform everyday spaces into glowing, dynamic environments. Fascinated by the interplay of textile and light, Krogh has modernized the centuries-old technique of tapestry weaving with the use of thoroughly modern materials including neon, reflective metals, and optic fiber.

Today, with a repertoire of materials that includes stainless steel, corten steel, granite, concrete, cast glass, and his own invention of laminated structurally dynamic artist glass, Walter Gordinier’s capacity to pair his creations with their environs is nearly limitless. Drawn to designs that are “pure in form, distilled to their most essential gesture,” his sleek, streamlined works are designed to inspire imagination and allure to the urban plazas, healing gardens, and other sites he is commissioned to design and enhance with his site-specific sculptures.

Whether he is engraving inspired quotations onto the gleaming walls of a state capital, carving exquisite objects from marble for private gardens, or restoring historical statues that have succumbed to the forces of time, master stone carver Marcel Mächler’s craft requires patience and precision. “The physical intensity of carving stone is a real workout and the need to remain continually focused as the work proceeds is true mental exercise. No matter what your emotional state, you have to be totally present with the stone and the tools.” In an era when the traditional trades of maker-culture are fading, artist-craftsmen like Mächler seek to maintain a lived connection with the past. "Stone carving is perhaps the oldest of the arts. When I am working on a project I often think about all of the people who have come before me. Each of them had this special connection with stone." The relationship of a stone carver to his materials is one of deep devotion.

While Mike Hansel’s early works were likely to appear in museums and galleries, today his large-scale outdoor metal sculptures increasingly populate public—and decidedly accessible—sites. “People will say, ‘Wow! What’s that made of?’ or ‘How’d you get that to bend that way?’ and come up to touch them,” says the Rhode Island-based artist. “I like to listen, anonymously, to the comments people make. It’s a great way to hear honest appraisals of the work."

"I regard light as a material," says artist and lighting designer Brian W. Brush’s whose scintillating architectural installations harness refractive and reflective materials to impart a sense of movement and complexity inspired by parametric design. Whether constructed from anodized aluminum, fiber optic cables, polycarbonate, or a data-driven LED lights, each takes flight from a similar concept. At their foundation is a single, autonomous component that, when duplicated hundreds or thousands of times, produces a complex and dynamic organism all its own. They also begin with a similar goal: to engage individual viewers in a shared experience, whether that be to learn something new, identify with a local landmark, or even interact with the responsive qualities of a piece itself.