2021 FORM Student Innovation Competition

The 2021 FORM Student Innovation Competition invites architecture and interior design students to showcase their vision for the future by creating furniture pieces using Formica® Brand products. This year's challenge asks students to submit a color rendering and project statement for a furniture design that highlights the student's vision of "Design for the Next Generation." Our world is changing rapidly, and creativity, flexibility and adaptation will be key in the designs of tomorrow while still delivering on style and function today.

Students are asked to use their creativity when defining what a design for the next generation means to them, which could be furniture for a new learning environment for children, a post-pandemic workplace or a future-forward commercial setting. They will have the chance to win cash prizes, national recognition and have their work showcased at NeoCon 2021. The competition is open from Sept. 14, 2020 through March 12, 2021, with winners announced in May 2021.  

Participants must use at least three Formica® Brand products, including one (or more) from the company's 2021 Specialty Collection.

A distinguished panel of industry and design professionals will judge the student submissions:

• Alda Ly, founder and principal, Alda Ly Architecture & Design
• Cheryl Durst, executive vice president and CEO of IIDA
• Cindy Allen, editor-in-chief, Interior Design Media
• Renee Hytry Derrington, managing principal, North American design, Formica Group
• Sarah Kuchar, owner and creative director, Kuchar
• Vern Yip, award-winning HGTV designer and author

"This year has been pivotal in the world of design as the pandemic has made us rethink how spaces will look in the future and how we will learn and engage with each other," Hytry Derrington said. "Formica Corporation has always strived to embrace the next generation of architects and designers, and as we look to envision the next generation of design, I can think of no one better to answer the challenge than the students who truly are the future of this industry."

The grand prize winner will receive a $2,000 cash award and their design will be fabricated and displayed during NeoCon 2021 in Chicago in June. The second-place winner will be awarded $1,000, and the third-place winner will receive $500. The top three winners will all be invited to attend NeoCon as guests of Formica Corporation, and will be able to network with industry professionals and get a taste of the design community.

Inspired by the creativity of design icons  

The 2021 FORM Student Innovation Competition is inspired by the original iteration of this competition held in 2008, in which the company invited 10 world-renowned designers and architects—including Jaime Velez, Zaha Hadid, Michael Graves, Bernard Tschumi and Massimo Vignelli among others—to create works of art from Formica® Brand products. Their designs, which ranged from domestic pieces to conceptual sculptures, were then exhibited at the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati.

The 2021 FORM Student Innovation Competition upholds the spirit of the original challenge, but now the next generation of designers are invited to express their creativity in these designs, showing attention to detail, inventive design and a unique point of view.

Entries accepted Sept. 14, 2020, through March 12, 2021

Competition submissions can be emailed to [email protected]. For more information, including complete competition details, resources and rules, visit  http://www.formica.com/studentcompetition.

About Formica Corporation
Founded in 1913, Formica Corporation, part of the Formica Group of companies, is a leader in the design, manufacture and distribution of innovative surfacing products for commercial and residential applications. For more information about Formica Corporation, its products, special programs and promotions, visit www.formica.com or call 1-800-FORMICA™.

About Formica Group
Formica Group is a global group of companies consisting of Formica Canada Inc., Formica Corporation, Formica de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Formica IKI Oy, Formica Skandinavien AB, Formica Limited, Formica S.A., Formica S.A.S., Formica Taiwan Corporation, Formica Co., Ltd., Formica Asia Ltd., Formica Decorative Materials (China) Co., Ltd. and Homapal GmbH, among others.

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