The selected products will be showcased at Veroweekend, which will take place in October 2018 in the city of São José do Rio Negro, in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. The winner will be announced on September 10.
Nicolás Noblía, founder of Otomano Shanghai, noted that Veromobili—the contest organizer—is a major Brazilian furniture manufacturer and retailer based in São Paulo.
The selection of the final products was based on the following criteria: originality, concept, form and function, ergonomics, differences from existing products on the market, production process, manufacturability, ease of assembly by the customer, and ease of packaging and storage.
According to Noblía, what makes the contest interesting is that, “in addition to the fact that the company will manufacture the five finalist products and that the five finalists will receive a cash prize, in September two of them will be selected as winners and will be included in the Veromobili catalog, with the company paying royalties on each sale.”
“We at Estudio Elemento have been working with the Brazilian market for a few years now,” he said. “The biggest advantage of this competition is that it opens the door to a new company that is just getting to know our way of working, so we hope our relationship with them won’t end with the competition. I think we’re on the right track, since we’ll be meeting in São Paulo this coming week to present other products.”
Shanghai Ottoman It is a sofa inspired by Chinese architecture. The goal was to create a piece “that brings the balance and harmony of Eastern culture into the bedroom,” explained the industrial designer. “To achieve this, we designed a curved surface that evokes classic Asian roofs with curved edges, supported by cylindrical pillars inspired by temple columns. From a manufacturing standpoint, it is an extremely simple product, as it consists of just a few very simple parts.”
