3D sculpture Rising created by Chinese designer Yao Zhihao Photo: Courtesy for Edward Lone

A technology-powered 3D design competition launched in 2020 to mark the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relations between Switzerland and China revealed its winners at the Embassy of Switzerland in China in Beijing on Wednesday. 

A total of 12 3D design works were submitted by contestants from both China and Switzerland. Each of the works embraced the competition's main theme of interpreting the connection between the two countries through art. 

The final two winners were Chinese designer Yao Zhihao and Swiss designer Noelani Rutz. Yao created the geometrically aesthetic 3D sculpture Rising, which merges visual symbols such as Switzerland's iconic Matterhorn and seven triangular structures to imply qualities such as "universally shared natural legacy" and "balance and stability." The triangles are intertwined and staggered one above each other to deliver an almost anti-gravity visual sense. 

"I tried tons of times to lay this structure to ensure that it does not fall. It looks delicate but is actually very stable. The triangle is a stable shape itself, and seven of them have a symbolic meaning that represents the stable diplomatic relations between China and Switzerland," Yao explained to the Global Times on Wednesday. 

Though Rutz, who designed A bowl full of meaning, was not able to join the event in Beijing, her minimalistic bowl design that actually involves complex technology and techniques stunned audiences at the event. It was described as a symbolic space showing the importance and impact of the two countries' establishment of diplomatic ties.  

The event was co-organized by the Embassy of Switzerland in China and two top cultural institutions -Switzerland's écolecantonale d'art de Lausanne (ECAL) and China's The Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University.