September 10, 2021

Formica Corp. announced the opening of the 2022 FORM Student Innovation Competition, the annual competition that invites architecture and interior design students in the U.S. and Canada to showcase their creativity through original furniture designs that feature Formica Brand products. To celebrate the fifth anniversary, students this year will be asked to create their designs using Formica Brand woodgrain products as a nod to the traditional fifth anniversary gift of wood.

Students are given the freedom to create a furniture design for any setting and use—including residential and commercial environments—as long as it includes a woodgrain laminate. To participate, students must submit a color rendering and project statement for their design that highlights their vision surrounding the woodgrain product. Entrants have the chance to win cash prizes, earn national recognition and have their work showcased at NeoCon 2022. The competition is open from Sept. 7, 2021, through March 4, 2022, with winners announced in May 2022.

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

The grand prize winner will receive a $2,000 cash award, and their design will be fabricated and displayed during NeoCon 2022 in Chicago. The second-place winner will be awarded $1,000, and the third-place winner will receive $500. The top three winners also will be invited to attend NeoCon as guests of Formica Corp. for the opportunity to network with industry professionals and get a taste of the design community. 

Inspired by the creativity of design icons 

The 2022 FORM Student Innovation Competition is inspired by the original iteration of this challenge held in 2008, when 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.

In the spirit of the original challenge, the 2022 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.