It was in response to this challenge, launched by SOLANCIS to its team of designers, that we extended the challenge to the Polytechnic of Leiria – ESAD.CR, Industrial Design Course.

The briefing was simple – Portuguese Limestone would be the material of choice, they would have to present a strong concept and the piece would have to consider the dynamics of the space where it would be presented.

The SOLANCIS team collaborated with the students in the development process, presenting the materials, production methods and constraints for assembly at a trade fair.

The Jury was composed of 5 members: Samuel Delgado (CEO of SOLANCIS); Tiago Martinho (Director of the Technical Design Department); Patrícia Henriques (Marketing); Professor Luís Pessanha (Coordinator of the Industrial Design Degree at ESAD.CR) and Professor Miguel Vieira Baptista (ESAD.CR and independent designer with experience in designing projects in Stone).

The duo David Amaral and Sara Saramago – Design students – won the first edition of COUNTDOWN with the INVERSO project, a modular concept that aims to invert scales and perception of spaces, using two limestones – Alpinina for the bench modules and Estremadura Azul for the table module.

Honorable Mentions were also awarded to the SEASTONE Project (Ana Vetrici and Alexandre Luís, designers at Solancis); the SCARCITY Project (Patrícia Lopes, designer at Solancis); the PARAMÉTRICO BANK Project (Diogo Sousa, designer at SOLANCIS) and the PAISAGEM Project (Ricardo Tocha and João Ribeiro, design students).

The INVERSO project was on display during SOLANCIS’ participation in the Maison&Objet (Paris, FR) and MARMOMAC (Verona, IT) fairs, and returned to Portugal for a live presentation on national television, TVI channel, Somos Portugal program – min 02:10:30 on October 23, where diplomas were awarded to the winners, by the hands of Solancis CEO, Mr. Samuel Delgado, who added:

“The challenge launched by SOLANCIS aims to strengthen the link between academia and industry, reducing possible creative barriers when considering Natural Stone as a primary material for design and architecture projects.
This connection provided here is essential for the country’s young creatives to embrace these natural materials, and even if they have never explored them, they know that they have a team of experts supporting them throughout the process.”

Congratulations to all participants in this initiative!

The COUNTDOWN – Stone Design Awards challenge will have its 2nd edition in 2023!