ENTRIES FOR the dti FURNITURE DESIGN COMPETITION OPENS

ENTRIES FOR the dti FURNITURE DESIGN COMPETITION OPENS

The Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) invites final year design students and established designers across South Africa to enter for the National Furniture Design Competition. Entries for the competition, which is presented by the department in partnership with the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) Design Institute, Industrial Development Co-operation (IDC), Furntech and MeCad Solidworks open today and will close on 31 August 2015.

The theme of the 2015/16 edition of the competition, which was officially launched at the annual Design Indaba Expo in Cape Town at the weekend, is Future Public Spaces. The theme speaks to the designing of furniture for the seating or waiting areas of public institutions. 

According to the Chief Director of Agro-processing at the dti, Ms Unati Speirs, the aim of the competition is to attract designers to the furniture industry, thus creating a pool of designers to serve the industry and promote product development and differentiation.

The competition is divided into two categories. The first is open for the final year students and the other focusing on established designers in order to promote designs and to place them in the forefront of furniture design.

 “I am confident that the competition will elevate the image of the furniture manufacturing industry in South Africa, position the local industry and enhance its competitiveness locally and abroad, through new product development and product differentiation,” added Speirs.

According to Speirs, the competition is designed in such a way that it will promote entrepreneurs and professionals in the furniture design assisting them to take their career forward and improve the design skills.

“The furniture-manufacturing industry is an important sector in the South African economy. It has a potential to contribute to the reduction of unemployment, increase exports and develop the small, medium and micro enterprises (SMMEs).

Entrants will be expected to provide technical drawings of the product, a description of materials to be used in the production, as well as the description of and the concept behind the design.

Prizes worth R100 000.00 will be split amongst the three finalists in both categories.

More information on the competition can be obtained from http://www.thedti.gov.za/furnituredesigncompetition.jsp