Gorenje announced their 10th contest for industrial design students of the Ljubljana Academy of Fine Arts and Design. The title of this instalment is Loving Simplicity. Students will be seeking home appliance design solutions in the spirit of Gorenje's philosophy of "Simplicity". The purpose of the contest is the pursuit of Gorenje's vision and strategy of design-mindedness, and its goal is to expand Gorenje's pool of ideas in the field of development, which have the potential for actual realization through a specific project.
It is specified in the announcement of the Loving Simplicity contest that students should look for solutions for home appliances, which will allow simple and innovative user experience, concentrated on the group of users that are just entering independent life and therefore facing first encounters with independent food storage and preparation, dishwashing, and laundry care. The entrants should also develop solutions for simple appliance control, with focus on the use of environmentally friendly materials and advanced technologies.
Students will develop their contest solutions in the course of their regular seminar with Prof. Vladimir Pezdirc and Prof. Janez Smerdelj. The deadline for submission of solutions is end of January 2013, and Gorenje's jury will evaluate and rank the entries by the end of February 2013. Contest solutions will be displayed and presented in March next year. The author of the winning solution will be awarded with a month of training at the Gorenje Design Studio.
Visit to Gorenje upon the announcement of the contest
Last Friday, November 23, 2012, the students visited Gorenje to attend the 10th internal Gorenje design contest. Mrs. Uršula Menih Dokl, in charge of Gorenje concept lines at the brand management department, presented Gorenje's marketing strategy; Mrs. Lidija Pritržnik, creative director of the Gorenje Design Studio presented the subject of the contest and Gorenje's design center, and took the students on a tour of the latter. Technological processes in cooking appliance production were presented by the technologist Mr. Franc Koren. The students also learned about the smart technology of the Navis warehouse as Mr. Branko Sila, head of warehousing and dispatch at Gorenje took them on a tour. At the end, they visited the Gorenje Studio Velenje showroom where they were able to get up close and personal with the conceptual studies of free standing home appliances Qube and the Eco kitchen.
A look back on previous Gorenje design contests
Gorenje held its first closed contest for industrial design students in 1988. 11 contests were held to date, of which two were international. Through the years, the contests covered everything from designing small home appliances to developing a concept of the kitchen as a technological hub of the home. Design contests are contributing to the pool of ideas and the pool of potential human resources. After completing their studies, the best students are often employed by Gorenje. Thus, five young industrial designers have been hired from the ranks of promising young creative minds taking part in last three contests.