“The Jury thought that Finn’s design was best in line with the Sustainable Mobility theme, promoting share-mobility and therefore resolving a real problem in urban areas” adds Joan Montobbio, Managing Director of Menzolit Spain and UK, and Chairman of the Jury. “We envision this application can be made in SMC and successfully commercialized. The Jury liked the detail of the design process, including the design philosophy and drivers. Also we liked very much the marketing-ability and relevance to society and consumers.”
NEW IDEAS FOR SMC
The Alle team (consisting of Maria João Melo, Inês Mimoso, and Mauro Silva of ESAD Oporto, Portugal) developed the Alle, an electric and autonomous vehicle for control, patrol, and maintenance of roads. The Alle functions include road marking and air pollution measurement. This unmanned multi-purpose vehicle can work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and helps to make traffic safer and cleaner. The Jury mentioned the Alle was a great concept that is really pushing the imagination, and is visionary for that reason. The team received the Silver Award.
The Rayboard team (consisting of designers Ana Rita Pintão, Nídia Rodrigues, and Simão Chaves of ESAD Oporto, Portugal) designed an electric-powered body board for sustainable nautical tourism. This body board will provide high comfort and safety, and is easy to use both above and under the water surface. The unique shape was inspired by the natural shape of the Stingray. The team received the Bronze Award, particularly for the stunning and sleek part design.
“This Design Award brought my students an alternative industry perspective on product design and it was an interesting challenge to work with this new material,“ mentions Jeremy Aston, Design Professor at ESAD Oporto and supporting his students during the award ceremony. “The students had to really ‘think-out-of-the-box’ and come up with ideas that benefit from the full potential of the SMC BMC material. The experience was very rewarding and I can recommend others to participate in future SMC BMC Design Awards”.
ABOUT THE JURY
The SMC BMC Design Award 2019 was focused on developing new ideas and product solutions for SMC and BMC in “Sustainable Mobility”. The projects were reviewed in detail by an independent Jury against the key selection criteria: Creativity, End-user functionality, Feasibility in SMC BMC, and a Minimum of 4 SMC BMC performance criteria used.
The Jury consisted of expert members from both the Design community and the Composites industry:
- Joan Montobbio, Jury Chairman, Managing Director of Menzolit Spain/ Menzolit UK, Vice-President of European Alliance for SMC BMC
- Joachim Froment, Independent designer, worked for Skibsted Ideation (Denmark) on Sustainable Mobility projects
- Andrea Ratti, Professor Composites Engineering and Design at Politecnico Milano, Italy
- Hubertus Rehermann, Technical Director SMC BMC Component Manufacturing for Mercedes-Benz cars, Germany
DESIGN AWARD BACKGROUND
The SMC BMC Design Award is the international design competition organized by the European Alliance for SMC BMC. This competition recognizes and promotes design excellence by Design students or Young Design professionals while using SMC and BMC advanced materials in their designs.
The SMC BMC Design Award is intended to reinforce that SMC and BMC are innovative, versatile, cost effective and safe materials, used in products that make significant beneficial contributions to individual consumers and to society. More information about the SMC BMC Design Award on https://smcbmc-europe.org/award.php.
EUROPEAN ALLIANCE FOR SMC BMC
The European Alliance for SMC BMC is an industry association of European companies involved in the SMC and BMC technology, promoting the benefits of SMC BMC Composite solutions through:
• Connecting key stakeholders in the supply chain
• Providing details on typical end-uses
• Explaining the features and associated benefits
• Making available design information to engineers and designs
• Facilitating the information exchange at selected events
More information about the European Alliance for SMC BMC on https://smcbmc-europe.org/.
The European Alliance is an association operating under the umbrella of EuCIA in Brussels, Belgium.
