Vegetable-based leather, wooden slats, recycled bisque or plexiglass: the five winners of Gainerie 91’s sixth annual Design Competition vied for the most inventive status in the area of opening mechanisms.
When it comes to coffrets, the usual terminology is “closing mechanisms,” and that was precisely the theme Gainerie 91 selected for the 2019 edition of its Design Competition. Indeed, opening mechanisms, new product display mechanisms to be precise, stole the show last Thursday at the Buddha Bar Hotel at the awards ceremony.
First prize went to Meana Oval, a student at ENSA in Limoges, for her Palette Jacob in black ABS sheathed in grape leather that features four surfaces and a dual-opening mechanism. Second place was awarded to the cylindrical slot machine-like Bagheera case by Tisha Millochau from Studio Créa Paris. The winners were inspired by the 1001 ways to ritualize the unveiling of a product, reinterpreting the secret of the jewelry case and the treasures it holds.
Novel approaches to opening mechanisms
In developing mechanisms with more or less intuitive, playful, or technical designs—such as the ‘piano’ created to ‘dispense’ a Cartier ring signed Julien Kouame, student at the École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Versailles (Audience Award) – students took new approaches to the concept of opening/closure. Romane Viger (Lycée Auguste Renoir) and William Francisco (École Nationale Supérieure des Arts et Métiers), who tied for third place, are perfect examples. Viger designed a precious orb, a case made of glazed porcelain and bisque destined for re-use.
A hinged white and gold egg composed of three molded/poured, interlocking pieces revisits both the Russian doll and the Rubik’s Cube. Developed for Guerlain, the object, its interior varnished with thermo chromic paint, reveals its gilded surface with the heat of a candle during its second life as a candleholder.
Francisco, the second winner, developed a concept around wine and the passage of time in the form of a distinctly architectural coffret. Entirely composed of wood slats, this coffret, a cross between a screen and an accordion, also functions as a carry case once unfolded, both protecting and showcasing its contents.
