A project inspired on the Flysch outcrop wins Maier’s International Design Competition

The prize giving ceremony was held on 26 June at the Automotive Intelligence Center in Zornotza, Bizkaia province, and was attended by the Bizkaia MP for Economic Promotion, Imanol Pradales, the Chairman of the MONDRAGON Corporation, Javier Sotil, Renault’s Colour & Trim Design Manager, Antoine Genin, and Mercedes-Benz’s Colour & Trim Manager, Martin Bremer.

The €8,000 first prize in the “Professionals” category went to the Flysch Design project created by Daniela Hermann and Jon Artamendi, a freelance designer and an automotive sector technician/sales agent respectively.

The winning project drew its inspiration from the sedimentary rock formations with alternating hard and soft rocks (flysch), creating a design that combines fluid organic shapes with contrasting colours for vehicle decoration.

The prize in the “Students” category, for an amount of €4,000, went to the project Cintiyo – Indian Public Transportation, presented by Marion Lenne, Nicolas Schmitt, Maxence Hoet, Clement Delporte and Martin Duhayon, all Design students at the Rubika International School of Design (France).

Their entry focused on research into the natural resources, colours, textures and patterns habitually found in India, for decoration of vehicles in the emerging countries.

The €3,000 prize for the “Best Material Sample Collection” (proyect Locta) was awarded to Alya Ennouri and Arnaud Deshayes, both students at the Reims École Supérieure d´Art et de Design, France.

Held for the sixth time, the contest received a total of 149 entries from countries including France, Italy, Germany, the UK, Spain, China, Canada, Mexico and Brazil, which shows the great interest taken in the MAIER Group’s competition.

Colour & Trim

All this year’s designs are in the Colour & Trim area, a widespread concept in the automotive sector involving the design of colours, materials and textures for vehicle decoration. This year’s entries focused on products developed for vehicle interiors and exteriors, with Colour & Trim designs for dashboard fascias, door panel handles, vehicle front ends and door pillars.

The Jury included representatives from public bodies and automotive sector designers, and it particularly valued innovative designs, quality deliverables and sector applicability.

The Jury members were Renault’s Colour & Trim Design Manager, Antoine Genin, Mercedes-Benz’s Colour & Trim Design Manager, Martin Bremer, the Chairman of the General Council of the MONDRAGON Corporation, Javier Sotil, and Bizkaia’s MP for Economic Promotion, Imanol Pradales.

The aim of the competition was to encourage and promote innovation within the Maier Group to provide its customers with added value and a competitive edge through design. The aim is clearly practical, as not only the aesthetic value of the designs is valued but also their applicability in the productive field, by either Maier itself or any of the vehicle manufacturers with which it habitually works.

About Maier

The Maier Group is based in Ajangiz in Bizkaia province and forms part of MONDRAGON. It currently has seven production plants: the main factory in Ajangiz, Maier Navarra in the Ultzama valley, Maier Ferroplast in Porriño (Pontevedra province, close to Vigo), Maier UK, Maier Czech Republic, Maier Cromoplástica in Italy and Alpha Maier in India.

Its turnover in 2014 was €244m, around 70% of which was from international sales. It has a total staff of 1,766 people and also owns the Maier Technology Center (MTC), which specialises in plastics technology for the automotive sector and development of decoration for this sector

The Maier Group works in the plastic auto parts sector as a business group whose key differentiating factors are decoration (paintwork and chroming, in addition to laser and hot stamp printing and other technologies) and expertise in highly functionally complex parts.

Maier manufactures a wide range of parts for vehicle interiors and exteriors: front grilles, windscreen grilles, handles, hubcaps, dashboard fronts, embellishers, side mouldings, etc.