House and Leisure/Mr Price Home Design Competition

Designers at Mr Price Home aims to promote local design by providing an inspiring platform for young South Africans across a number of design disciplines to create products for the home that combine creativity with commercial viability.

Each month, Mr Price Home and House and Leisure will invite final year students from one university or technikon to participate in this prestigious competition. A specific design department(covering disciplines from industrial, graphic and product design to photography and textiles) is selected, and students are given a brief to create an original and useful item of homeware using materials and/or a budget supplied by Mr Price Home. A selection of the best designs - and their creators - are featured monthly in House and Leisure.

In May 2004, ten finalists will be chosen. Knockout prizes include a subscription to House and Leisure and a R1000 gift voucher from Mr Price Home for each finalist. The four most impressive products will be singled out and developed by Mr Price Home and sold in store under the designer's own name. The overall winner - chosen from amongst the finalists - will receive a return ticket to London to visit the ultimate design showcase, 100% Design 2004. With an increasingly design-savvy public demanding excellent design at an affordable price, Mr Price Home and House and Leisure believe that this competition will encourage the development of local design as well as create a forum for young South African talent.

The competition, which began in May 2003, has already proved an enormous success. Featured so far...

* May: Third-year textile design students at the Cape Tech were asked to create smart storage for life in the 21st century. The results included functional, contemporary storage solutions for every area of the home.

* June: WITS Tech industrial design students had to create a multipurpose piece of furniture that could pack flat for easy mobility and storage - and be effortlessly assembled. Their efforts were practical designs with a world-class edge.

* July: Third-year graphic design students at Durban Institute of Technology were asked to reinterpret the theme of botanicals in a fresh and inspired way. The students took their cue from the motifs, shapes and colours found in nature. The end results were modern, graphic designs that can be printed on wallpaper or adapted for linen and homeware.

* August: Third-year textile-design students at Pretoria Technikon were briefed to show off their beading, weaving, printing, and decorating skills by creating interesting lighting. Their creations are modern, sculptural, multi-purpose lights for the office or home.