MEET BIAAF’S 8TH EDITION JURY!

June 03, 2022

Next June the 14th, the winners of BIAAF’S 8th Edition’s shall be revealed on the occasion of its Awards Ceremony and Final Exhibition in Bilbao.

This 8^th Edition has counted with over 1.300 participants coming from 92 countries.

We are really thrilled to share with you that the winners of our 8th Edition were selected last May 13th by the below Jury Panel:

MANUELA BRINI

With more than 20 years of professional experience in the luxury goods and fashion industry, specializing in international fashion brands, Manuela has been responsible since 2012 for the acquisition and development of creative talent at LVMH Fashion Group. Previously, she held various positions in brands such as Pitti Immagine, Gucci or Yves Saint Laurent, among others. She also has 6 years of experience at the Paris-based luxury executive research firm Floriane de Saint Pierre & Associés.

SARA SOZZANI MAINO

Sara started her career in the fashion world in the early 90’s, and in 1994 she joined VOGUE Italy as an intern. Today Sara is deputy editor-in-chief of Vogue Italia and director of Vogue Talents, which supports the next generation of talented designers. As the global fashion market expands, traveling around the world to meet with emerging designers is an important part of her job.

In collaboration with Altaroma, Sara has overseen the Who is on Next? competition that aims to support “Made in Italy” brands; and she regularly participates as a judge and advisor in various fashion competitions, such as the LVMH award, the International Talent Support (ITS), and many more.

JUAN IGNACIO VIDARTE

General Director of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao since its beginnings, Juan Ignacio holds a degree in Economics and Business Administration from the University of Deusto in Bilbao and is taking postgraduate courses at MIT. Under his management, the Museum has received numerous prizes and awards since its opening in October 1997, including the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts in 1999; the European Museum of the Year 2000 awarded by the European Museum Forum; the Silver Q according to the EFQM model of excellence in management in 2004; the Plaque for Merit in Tourism 2005; or Vasco Universal 2007.

JAVIER ALONSO

Director of Human Resources and Partner of Let’s Grow in Fashion. A psychologist by training and with a postgraduate degree in Management from Harvard University in the USA, Javier was for 14 years Global HR Director at Loewe and spent 7 years as HR Coordinator for the LVMH group in Spain. Since 2017 Javier is an advisor and investor in startups and focuses his activity on identifying, supporting, and growing startups and their CEOs in the development and implementation of their disruptive business models. In addition, he is a mentor in the postgraduate fashion management programs at ISEM (University of Navarra).

ANGEL AMOR

Angel Amor is an expert milliner, film costume designer and teacher. He studied a postgraduate degree in fashion at Central Saint Martins in London. As a designer and creator of haute couture headdresses, he has collaborated with several designers, including Javier Simorra, Manuel Albarrán and Elisa Palomino. As a professional costume designer, he has worked as a milliner and prop maker for international film and television production companies such as Warner Brothers, Walt Disney, and BBC, among others. As a teacher, he has taught at Trozmer University (Mexico), Institut Catalá de la Moda and Felicidad Duce in Barcelona.

EDUARD JANE

With more than 10 years of experience in leading technology companies in New York, Paris and London, Eduard Jane has worked mainly with fashion brands and large strategic consultancies. Currently, he is Head of Sales in Iberia at JOOR. Jane is responsible for sales in the peninsula and management of strategic agreements with trade shows, fashion weeks and government agencies, as well as coordinating the teams working in the region.

ELISA PALOMINO

In addition to having 25 years of experience designing for renowned luxury fashion brands, such as John Galliano or Christian Dior, and for her own brand, Elisa Palomino teaches at Central Saint Martins and international universities, engaging students in the sustainability of this sector. She is a Fulbright scholar and Anthropology Research Associate at the Smithsonian Institution Arctic Studies Center. Her research aims to develop new models of sustainable textiles that boost indigenous craftsmanship by encouraging indigenous people to continue to produce craft and to pass on their skills to others, creating participatory projects of social engagement.

GABRIEL AZKOITIA

Gabriel Azkoitia has been trained in several disciplines, he is a Fashion Designer, Artistic Director and Project Manager. Born in Bilbao, from a very young age he outgrew the city, and decided to broaden his horizons in Madrid and Barcelona. He spent 20 years living in Barcelona, where he met, discovered, and trained in various disciplines that have made an impression on the designer. Gabriel is also a professor, transmitting the knowledge and learning he has accumulated throughout his professional career, and is the Director of projects at the INEDI School of Design.

MERCEDES DE MIGUEL

Since she was a child, Mercedes de Miguel has had a vocational passion for fashion. At the age of 15 she moved to Bilbao to study design, which she later completed in Barcelona. But it was in Bilbao in 1989 when, after designing collections for other firms, her passion and interest in fashion led her to create her own firm. That same passion, barely a decade later, earned her the Golden Pin for “Woman Entrepreneur of the Year”. Currently, there are 2 firms that she designs: M de Miguel and Poupée Chic by Mercedes de Miguel.

MIREN VIVES

Born in San Sebastian, and an economist by training, Miren has developed a professional career of more than 18 years in the cultural sector dedicated to strategic planning and museum management. Since 2014 she has been General Director of the Cristóbal Balenciaga Museum in Getaria, an institution dedicated exclusively to the conservation, study and dissemination of the figure and work of the Master of Haute Couture Cristóbal Balenciaga.

PAMELA GOLBIN

She is a French fashion curator, author and historian. From 1993 to 2018 she was the chief curator of fashion and textiles at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, and in 2019 she became artistic director of the Jacquard Artists Residency.

Golbin attended Columbia University in New York City and La Sorbonne in Paris, specializing in post-WWII Abstract Expressionism. During his studies, Golbin was part of the apprenticeship program at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and worked at the Costume Institute. At the same time, she followed a similar program at the Musée de la Mode et du Textile in Paris, where, after her studies, she was appointed curator at the age of 23.

MIRIAM OCARIZ

With a degree in Fine Arts and a degree in Fashion Design, Miriam is a fashion and accessories designer. Between 1998 and 2010, she was a regular on the Gaudí Barcelona and Cibeles (Madrid Fashion Week) catwalks, where in 2002 she won the LÓreal award for best collection. Between 2004 and 2006 she was Creative Director of Armand Basi Woman. In 2010 she partnered with the Japanese group HP FRANCE for the distribution of her collections in Japan.

In 2015 she turned her career around to go back to her origins and return to design. She returned to drawing as the essence of her work and developed it in constant experimentation, taking it to objects, garments, fabrics and accessories, with the idea of progressively developing new ones.

REGINA POLANCO

With a degree in Law and having lived in numerous countries, Regina is the founder and current CEO of PYRATEX®, a pioneering company since 2018 in the textile sector that is dedicated to developing natural and more environmentally responsible fabrics.

Regina started the PYRATEX® project in 2014, dedicating 4 years to R&D and collaborating with different European textile institutes such as AITEX or the STFI in Germany and participated in incubation programs including Fashion Fusion, powered by Deutsche Telekom and Adidas, as well as Look Forward by Showroomprive.