Swiss illustrator Julia Bruderer was awarded the Swatch Young Illustrators Award on Sunday, 18th October. The Award ceremony was hosted by the international art festival Illustrative, where the exhibition of the 30 shortlisted artists, which were handpicked by an international jury of experts, will be on show until November 1st.

Katia Fouquet (Berlin) received the second prize, followed by Paul-Henri Masson (Paris). The three winners received prizes worth 6,000 Euros. The Swatch Special Prize – the design of a limited Swatch watch – was awarded to Japanese designer Takashi Koshii (UPPER CUT). Takashi will thus join the ranks of artists such as Kiki Picasso, Pedro Almodóvar, Robert Altman and Keith Haring.

Julia Bruderer was born in 1982 in Zurich, Switzerland. She graduated in 2005 with a BFA in Illustration from the Parsons School of Design in New York and finished her Masters in Communication Design at Central Saint Martins School of Art and Design in London in 2009. Her illustrations startle with their strong primary colours, which do not limit themselves to the boundaries of the underlying drawings.

Katia Fouquet, born in 1975, holds a Master of Arts from the Universität der Künste in Berlin and Paul-Henri Masson, born in 1982, holds a Master degree in Graphic Design from ENSAV-La Cambrer in Brussels.