Formica Canada Invites Canadian Students to Enter The Seventh Annual FORM Student Innovation Competition

Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, Canada, September 6, 2023 — Formica Canada announces the opening of the 2024 FORM Student Innovation Competition. Now in its seventh year, this annual competition invites architecture and interior design students in Canada, the U.S. and Mexico to showcase their creativity through original furniture designs that feature Formica^® Brand products. 

This year, Formica reflects on 110 years of Formica^® Brand products with a challenge that asks students to submit a color rendering and project statement of a furniture design that interprets “newstalgia” — a trending aesthetic that blends retro and vintage design with a fresh, modern take. Through their design, students are asked to use their creativity when defining what “newstalgia” means to them, bridging classic with new.

Within their designs, students must include two or more Formica^® Laminate patterns and at least one color of FENIX^TM Innovative Materials. Each entrant will have the chance to win cash prizes and to get national recognition at NeoCon 2024 in Chicago, the leading design event for commercial interiors in North America. The grand prize winner will receive a 2,000 $US cash award and their design will be fabricated and displayed during NeoCon 2024. The second-place winner will be awarded 1,000 $US and the third-place winner will receive 500 $US. The top three winners will also be invited to attend NeoCon as guests of Formica for the opportunity to network with industry professionals, discover emerging trends and meet with leaders of the design community.

The competition is open from Sept. 6, 2023, through March 8, 2024, with winners announced in May 2024. A distinguished panel of industry and design professionals will judge the students’ submissions. 

“The 2023 edition of the competition attracted an exceptional group of Canadian students who distinguished themselves by the number of participants, but also by the creativity and quality of the designs submitted,” said Christelle Locat-Rainville, Marketing Director at Formica Canada. “We can't wait to see how participants of the 2024 competition will interpret “newstalgia” and to discover their creations, especially as they will reflect on our 110 years of design”.  

An exceptional group of Canadian students in 2023

In 2023, two Canadians, Tom-Elliot Monette of CEGEP Saint-Jean-Sur-Richelieu and Meaghan Maass of Fanshawe College in Ontario, won first and third places. Second place was won by Dario Duran of the New Jersey Institute of Technology. The students, who attended NeoCon 2023 as part of their trip to Chicago that allowed them to visit the exhibition, meet members of the design community, and tour the city, found the experience extremely enjoyable and rewarding. "This trip provi­­­­­­ded me with incredible opportunities and information. It's a unique occasion for us, as future designers, to interact with the design community and discover the latest trends," said third-place winner Meaghan Maass.

Inspired By Design Industry Legends

Now in its seventh year, the annual FORM Student Innovation Competition continues to grow as more students submit their inventive and thought-provoking designs. The current iteration of FORM is inspired by a challenge Formica held in 2008, when the company invited design greats — 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.

In the spirit of the original challenge, the 2024 FORM Student Innovation Competition invites the next generation of designers to express their creativity in these original furniture designs, showing attention to detail, inventive design and a unique point of view. 

For more information, including complete competition details, resources and rules, visit formica.com/studentcompetition.