Announcement of the winners in the PG Bison 1.618 Competition 2015
On Thursday 1 October 2015, the PG Bison 1.618 Awards were held at the Rand Club, with over 200 guests in attendance. The theme of the evening was Capitol Couture. Guests turned out in their finery to support the Top Ten finalists who had been audaciously styled to suit the event.
Al Prodgers played a suitably extravagant host. The ceremony allowed all ten finalists to reveal a little of their personalities. The announcement of the winners was made to a packed ballroom at the grand old club in Johannesburg’s CBD.
The 2015 brief tasked students with designing an open air cinema as well as a retail and entertainment experience in the Maboneng Precinct, directly beneath the Sivewright Avenue Bridge.
All Top Ten Finalists’ works were displayed on custom banners produced for the occasion which displayed both their “district” and their artwork.
The winning students for 2015 are:
1st Place: Paolo Kirsten from the University of Pretoria.
Valued at R120, 000.00, Paolo has won an all-expenses-paid trip for himself and his lecturer, Derick de Bruyn, to the 2016, Furniture Fair in Milan, Italy.
2nd Place: Bernard Coetser from Design School of South Africa.
Bernard has won an all-expenses-paid trip to the 2016 Design Indaba in Cape Town, plus
R3, 000 in cash.
3rd Place: Jacques Steyn from the University of the Free State.
Jacques has won R10, 000 in cash.
As per last year’s prize addition, all remaining Top Ten Finalists will receive a R2, 000 cash prize, and all 9 students will have the opportunity to attend a 2015 Design Indaba Simulcast.
When speaking about PG Bison’s investment in the annual competition, Executive Director Gavin Van Der Merwe had this to say “For us the competition is an opportunity to showcase our wide range of products, but more importantly to create an opportunity for our up and coming designers to showcase their talents. We love seeing these young designers coming up through the educational system, and this competition creates an incredible opportunity and stepping stone for their careers.”
Van Der Merwe went on to say “Education is one of our key CSI focus areas, and rightly so! We continuously invest in schools and support various teaching initiatives, particularly in the rural areas we operate in (which are often very poor). We are very proud of our learnership programmes. We have assisted people from very tough economic backgrounds to achieve their dreams”.
Other notable soundbites:
- PG Bison have just announced a new investment of R600 million in a new production line to expand production capacity for their brand Bisonbord.
- The new focus on Formica and Corian, through the Surface Innovations business, is another exciting investment. (These are 2 premier brands and with a wide palette of designs available).
- The market can expect a cutting edge, high gloss product launch in June 2016 – this offering will be significantly more affordable than imported product. (Notably, PG Bison will be one of a handful of companies globally able to offer this innovation).
For more information or to request additional photographs please contact the PG Bison 1.618 Competition and Awards office on:
073 202 8308
011 781 0439
hi@1sixoneeight.co.za
www.pgbison.co.za
www.1sixoneeight.co.za
Photos can be viewed at https://www.facebook.com/pages/PG-Bison-1618-Competition-and-Awards/103841733038813
