FIRST EDITION SOZZANI AWARD 2026 WOMEN: DESIGN & CRAFT
in collaboration with VEUVE CLICQUOT
Fondazione Sozzani presents the SOZZANI AWARD.
The award was established with the aim of supporting and providing visibility to creative paths that combine independence, rigor, and responsibility, valuing voices capable of initiating new narratives and impacting the present with vision and awareness. The SOZZANI AWARD seeks to recognize and support the new generation by promoting projects and stories that contribute to the development of culture and innovation in the worlds of Photography, Fashion, and Design & Craft. Creativity is an act of responsibility; it is a choice.
The SOZZANI AWARD is founded on the commitment to recognize those who create with conscious dedication, those who build unprecedented languages, and those who preserve memory while simultaneously opening new paths. This recognition is also a bridge between generations and disciplines, and between memory and the future. Because culture lives only if it is transmitted, and experimentation exists only if it is free and grows through the strength of independent thought. The SOZZANI AWARD celebrates what has been achieved and what continues to transform. Participation in the SOZZANI AWARD is free and open to young creatives from all over the world.
Each year, the award is granted in one of three categories: Photography, Fashion, or Design & Craft. A jury composed of figures from the world of culture and the creative industry will select the finalists by evaluating artistic quality, research, social impact, and the ability to generate new narratives. The finalist projects will be presented and promoted through the channels and spaces of Fondazione Sozzani, helping to create a moment of encounter and dialogue between creatives, institutions, and the public.
The first edition of the award, Women, celebrates women and their identities who, through their research and work, contribute to the development of contemporary culture. The first SOZZANI AWARD recognizes the fundamental role of women in defining new cultural languages. The VEUVE CLICQUOT DESIGN & CRAFT SCHOLARSHIP FOR WOMEN supports a female creative or entrepreneur in the Design & Craft category.
The winner of the 2026 edition will be announced on Saturday, September 26, during Milan Fashion Week. from 11AM to 4PM
by invitation only
THE JURY GALIB GASSANOFF founder & creative director, INSTITUTION VERONICA LEONI creative director, Calvin Klein Collection FABRICE PAINEAU creative consultant KRIS RUHS co-founder Fondazione Sozzani, artist & designer OLIVIER SAILLARD fashion historian & curator and director of the Fondation Azzedine Alaïa CARLA SOZZANI president & co-founder Fondazione Sozzani SARA SOZZANI MAINO creative director, Fondazione Sozzani and International New Talent and Brands Ambassador Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana
THE FINALISTS MARIE-ÉVE LECAVALIER is a Canadian designer based in Paris. Her practice spans leather, textiles and objects, exploring the intersection of fashion, design and contemporary art. Combining craftsmanship with material research and experimental construction, she creates sculptural works in which technique and material become integral to form, investigating the relationship between body, material and structure. Her research follows a continuous cycle of transformation, preserving and reintroducing offcuts into new materials and future works, while challenging traditional notions of value, luxury and art. TIMISOLA SHASANYA is a British-Nigerian designer, a Central Saint Martins graduate, and currently an MA student at the Institut Français de la Mode in Paris. Her practice spans fashion, textiles, and object- making, exploring the intersection of bespoke menswear, Nigerian craft, and migration. By combining traditional techniques like weaving and dyeing with technological processes such as laser cutting and digital embroidery, she creates works that investigate the connection between cultural identity and innovation. MAI SUZKI is a Japanese visual artist based in London working across sculpture for the body, spatial installation, performance and objects. Her practice centres on her original kumiko technique, combining traditional Japanese woodworking with 3D modelling and human anatomy. Drawn to Japanese sensibilities through calligraphy, she translates the Japanese spirit of iki into contemporary expression, interpreting it as a way of approaching life with curiosity and playfulness, even within difficulty or constraint. She creates embodied “living art” that comes alive and transforms through the interplay of body, movement, light, sound, space and time.
VEUVE CLICQUOT Founded in Reims in 1772, Veuve Clicquot has always remained true to its motto: “One quality, the best”. In 1805, Madame Clicquot took the reins of the House and became one of the first entrepreneurs of the modern era, known as “La Grande Dame de la Champagne”. Since then, her free spirit, boldness and culture of innovation have never ceased to inspire the House, which continues to radiate its imprint around the world. Despite the difficulties she encountered, Madame Clicquot looked to the future with confidence and was able to overcome an almost impossible challenge for a woman of her time: to revolutionize the champagne industry. Madame Clicquot created the first riddling table – still in use today –, the first vintage champagne and the very first rosé champagne by blend. Her most emblematic Cuvée, Yellow Label, is a symbol of skills developed over more than two centuries at the heart of the Maison’s exceptional cultural heritage. The color yellow, present on the Maison’s labels since 1877, is also the color of the rising sun, a message of optimism.
VEUVE CLICQUOT Founded in Reims in 1772, Veuve Clicquot has always remained true to its motto: “One quality, the best”. In 1805, Madame Clicquot took the reins of the House and became one of the first entrepreneurs of the modern era, known as “La Grande Dame de la Champagne”. Since then, her free spirit, boldness and culture of innovation have never ceased to inspire the House, which continues to radiate its imprint around the world. Despite the difficulties she encountered, Madame Clicquot looked to the future with confidence and was able to overcome an almost impossible challenge for a woman of her time: to revolutionize the champagne industry. Madame Clicquot created the first riddling table – still in use today –, the first vintage champagne and the very first rosé champagne by blend. Her most emblematic Cuvée, Yellow Label, is a symbol of skills developed over more than two centuries at the heart of the Maison’s exceptional cultural heritage. The color yellow, present on the Maison’s labels since 1877, is also the color of the rising sun, a message of optimism.
FIRST EDITION SOZZANI AWARD 2026
WOMEN: DESIGN & CRAFT
in collaboration with VEUVE CLICQUOT
Fondazione Sozzani presents the SOZZANI AWARD.
The award was established with the aim of supporting and providing visibility to creative paths that combine independence, rigor, and responsibility, valuing voices capable of initiating new narratives and impacting the present with vision and awareness. The SOZZANI AWARD seeks to recognize and support the new generation by promoting projects and stories that contribute to the development of culture and innovation in the worlds of Photography, Fashion, and Design & Craft. Creativity is an act of responsibility; it is a choice.
The SOZZANI AWARD is founded on the commitment to recognize those who create with conscious dedication, those who build unprecedented languages, and those who preserve memory while simultaneously opening new paths. This recognition is also a bridge between generations and disciplines, and between memory and the future. Because culture lives only if it is transmitted, and experimentation exists only if it is free and grows through the strength of independent thought. The SOZZANI AWARD celebrates what has been achieved and what continues to transform. Participation in the SOZZANI AWARD is free and open to young creatives from all over the world.
Each year, the award is granted in one of three categories: Photography, Fashion, or Design & Craft. A jury composed of figures from the world of culture and the creative industry will select the finalists by evaluating artistic quality, research, social impact, and the ability to generate new narratives. The finalist projects will be presented and promoted through the channels and spaces of Fondazione Sozzani, helping to create a moment of encounter and dialogue between creatives, institutions, and the public.
The first edition of the award, Women, celebrates women and their identities who, through their research and work, contribute to the development of contemporary culture. The first SOZZANI AWARD recognizes the fundamental role of women in defining new cultural languages. The VEUVE CLICQUOT DESIGN & CRAFT SCHOLARSHIP FOR WOMEN supports a female creative or entrepreneur in the Design & Craft category.
The winner of the 2026 edition will be announced on Saturday, September 26, during Milan Fashion Week.
from 11AM to 4PM
by invitation only
THE JURY
GALIB GASSANOFF founder & creative director, INSTITUTION
VERONICA LEONI creative director, Calvin Klein Collection
FABRICE PAINEAU creative consultant
KRIS RUHS co-founder Fondazione Sozzani, artist & designer
OLIVIER SAILLARD fashion historian & curator and director of the Fondation Azzedine Alaïa CARLA SOZZANI president & co-founder Fondazione Sozzani
SARA SOZZANI MAINO creative director, Fondazione Sozzani and International New Talent and Brands Ambassador Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana
THE FINALISTS
MARIE-ÉVE LECAVALIER is a Canadian designer based in Paris. Her practice spans leather, textiles and objects, exploring the intersection of fashion, design and contemporary art. Combining craftsmanship with material research and experimental construction, she creates sculptural works in which technique and material become integral to form, investigating the relationship between body, material and structure. Her research follows a continuous cycle of transformation, preserving and reintroducing offcuts into new materials and future works, while challenging traditional notions of value, luxury and art.
TIMISOLA SHASANYA is a British-Nigerian designer, a Central Saint Martins graduate, and currently an MA student at the Institut Français de la Mode in Paris. Her practice spans fashion, textiles, and object- making, exploring the intersection of bespoke menswear, Nigerian craft, and migration. By combining traditional techniques like weaving and dyeing with technological processes such as laser cutting and digital embroidery, she creates works that investigate the connection between cultural identity and innovation.
MAI SUZKI is a Japanese visual artist based in London working across sculpture for the body, spatial installation, performance and objects. Her practice centres on her original kumiko technique, combining traditional Japanese woodworking with 3D modelling and human anatomy. Drawn to Japanese sensibilities through calligraphy, she translates the Japanese spirit of iki into contemporary expression, interpreting it as a way of approaching life with curiosity and playfulness, even within difficulty or constraint. She creates embodied “living art” that comes alive and transforms through the interplay of body, movement, light, sound, space and time.
VEUVE CLICQUOT Founded in Reims in 1772, Veuve Clicquot has always remained true to its motto: “One quality, the best”. In 1805, Madame Clicquot took the reins of the House and became one of the first entrepreneurs of the modern era, known as “La Grande Dame de la Champagne”. Since then, her free spirit, boldness and culture of innovation have never ceased to inspire the House, which continues to radiate its imprint around the world. Despite the difficulties she encountered, Madame Clicquot looked to the future with confidence and was able to overcome an almost impossible challenge for a woman of her time: to revolutionize the champagne industry. Madame Clicquot created the first riddling table – still in use today –, the first vintage champagne and the very first rosé champagne by blend. Her most emblematic Cuvée, Yellow Label, is a symbol of skills developed over more than two centuries at the heart of the Maison’s exceptional cultural heritage. The color yellow, present on the Maison’s labels since 1877, is also the color of the rising sun, a message of optimism.
VEUVE CLICQUOT Founded in Reims in 1772, Veuve Clicquot has always remained true to its motto: “One quality, the best”. In 1805, Madame Clicquot took the reins of the House and became one of the first entrepreneurs of the modern era, known as “La Grande Dame de la Champagne”. Since then, her free spirit, boldness and culture of innovation have never ceased to inspire the House, which continues to radiate its imprint around the world. Despite the difficulties she encountered, Madame Clicquot looked to the future with confidence and was able to overcome an almost impossible challenge for a woman of her time: to revolutionize the champagne industry. Madame Clicquot created the first riddling table – still in use today –, the first vintage champagne and the very first rosé champagne by blend. Her most emblematic Cuvée, Yellow Label, is a symbol of skills developed over more than two centuries at the heart of the Maison’s exceptional cultural heritage. The color yellow, present on the Maison’s labels since 1877, is also the color of the rising sun, a message of optimism.