A traditional Vietnamese tray of food. Innovative ideas to do with food and beverages are one of five competing areas of the 'Designed by Vietnam' contest which is now open for applications. Photo vov.vn

The competition is held within the framework of Vietnam Design Week 2020 programmed by the Vietnam National Institute of Culture and Arts Studies in collaboration with Ashui.com, ConsMedia Corporation and other partners.

Contestants, either Vietnamese or foreigners based in Việt Nam, will have many opportunities to connect and learn to create 'regenerated' products with high value in design, under the guidance of influential designers and experts in five areas, namely 'Food & Beverage', 'Living', 'Fashion', 'Souvenir' and 'Public Art'.

The participants are expected to integrate elements and characteristics of culture, history, ancient industries or local materials, stories of the past and present, modern urban life or emotions from nature into their new innovative products.

“The contest aims to promote the value of Vietnamese goods via design elements, instead of raw materials or labour. How to increase the intellectual element of the product is the role of the designing field,” said Lê Việt Hà, President & Chairman of Ashui.com.

“We expect the participation of many designers, regardless of Vietnamese nationality or expats, as long as their ideas meet three criteria: featuring Vietnamese characteristics, being regenerated and highly applicable,” he added.

The contest also wants to change the mindset of using materials in an economical and optimal way, particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, based on available materials to design and create new products that are applicable in everyday life, orienting to sustainable development.

Entries must be originally designed by the applicants and have never been submitted to any other prior contests. The contest prioritises ideas that showcase Vietnamese characteristics and cultural values using traditional and indigenous materials. Designs that apply or develop from traditional crafts, including techniques, materials and aesthetics, are particularly encouraged.

The contest consists of three rounds including applications, the preliminary round and final round.

The preliminary round will start from the first week of September until the beginning of October in which the jury will choose 20 designs and work with selected authors to put the products into prototyping while the final round of exhibition and awarding activities will take place during Vietnam Design Week 2020 from November 5 to 10, 2020 in Hà Nội, HCM City and Hội An.

In addition to specialised advice from the five influential mentors, the organisers will publish the works of the 20 finalists and allow online voting on vietnamdesignweek.com from September 7 to October 7. — VNS

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