At the beginning of November, we called on all hobby creatives and professional graphic designers to play with our iconic furniture silhouettes and create illustrations or graphics from them. Participants had a total of 6 weeks to let their creativity run wild and my goodness, the results are impressive!
But see for yourself:
Design 1: @donjelio
Design 2: @agnesreczi
Design 3: @mischakoop
Design 4: @martinjosefstraif
Design 5: @agnesreczi
Design 6: @czsgraphic
The total of 6 designs from 5 Instagram users were presented to the Instagram community after the submission deadline. Who gives us the right to decide which design should be the winner of the competition! So the community voted on it itself.
After the community voting, the lucky winners were chosen and received various Aeris furniture as a prize:
Martin Straif (Instagram: @martinjosefstraif) came in first place with his design in red, blue and white. The 26-year-old is art director and owner of the agency northlight creative in Innsbruck. For him, there is something inspiring in every topic if you just deal with it intensively enough. When creating, he places great value on reduced work with clear shapes and well-thought-out color concepts. In addition to his design work, he enjoys being out and about in the mountains in his home country - on skis, by bike or on foot. He also invests a large part of his time on a voluntary basis as a trainer and juror in the international professional championships - the WorldSkills.
Martin was able to configure an Aeris Active Desk according to his wishes and select an Aeris office chair. He opted for the height-adjustable desk with a frame and table top in black. To match, he chose a 3Dee with a standard spring leg, black base and black leather cover.
We asked him about his inspiration, his design process and result:
What inspired you to participate in the design contest?
As a designer, I was particularly attracted to the open-ended nature of the task. Designing my images here was a nice change from traditional client work and I was able to work the way I wanted.
What inspired your design?
A closer look at Aeris products led me to my solution. Showing all the silhouettes felt too commercial from the start, I didn't see the point in it. In the process, I discovered the beauty of the details instead.
Tell us a little more about the process and result.
The development was shaped by the focus on furniture shapes. Elements that seem obvious at first glance eventually gain a completely different appreciation. The interplay of many of these small beauties and the reduction to silhouettes makes the detailed work that goes into the products tangible.
What was your biggest challenge and how did you solve it?
The difficulty of the task was certainly to give a commercial product an artistic value that goes beyond its functionality. Nevertheless, I wanted to design something that was still "on brand" - that is, that embodied the values of the Aeris brand. The color scheme was certainly the tool that could unite these two sides for me.
What do you like about the Aeris furniture and what do you think about your win?
I think the Aeris furniture is simply beautiful. I spend a lot of time at my desk and therefore attach great importance to the aesthetics of my office. Despite this, I rarely sit still when coming up with ideas or brainstorming. The Aeris furniture is the perfect basis for the way I work - so I am very happy about the new upgrade for my workplace.
In second place, the design by Mischa Koop (Instagram: @mischakoop) was chosen by our Instagram community, which was strongly inspired by the clear form of our logo. In his designs, he put the logo, the fabrics and silhouettes of the products, as well as photos, together to create playful collages. He then looked for exciting compositions within the area by dividing it into squares and rectangles.
The 36-year-old art director and designer also loves working with digital and analogue collages, which he also likes to animate. His daily work is very varied: for example, he develops corporate designs or digital campaigns for brands and startups. But his assignments also include designing artworks or tour communication for bands and artists. Mischa finds inspiration in books, podcasts and of course online on Instagram or behance. He finds it particularly inspiring to browse through record boxes and magazines at flea markets or second-hand shops.
Even when he is not working, his interests often have something to do with design. He especially enjoys taking photos when traveling with his family. He and his wife share a love of Scandinavia and Danish mid-century furniture. He is also interested in skateboarding and graffiti culture.
His prize was an office chair that was individually configured to his needs. He chose a Swopper with a frame and seat cover in black.
Third place goes to the design by Cristina Dominguez Alves (Instagram: @czsgraphic). The work of the 26-year-old freelance junior designer is primarily influenced by Swiss minimalism, which is why she always strives for the most harmonious results possible. She did this with her Aeris design as well. She began by studying the shapes of the products and working out the essential features of the individual products and then translating these into filled silhouettes and contours that interact with each other. In this way, she playfully demonstrates the product features in terms of shape, the composition of the individual parts or the movement options.
Cristina finds it exciting to follow the work of other graphic designers on social media and is happy when she discovers particularly innovative work or clever graphic solutions. When she is not creating graphics, she enjoys taking photos and drawing.
Your prize is a self-configured Active Desk with a white table frame and a height-adjustable table top in oak and white wood look.
Thank you to all participants and those of you who voted for your favorite design! We hope you all continue to have fun expressing your creativity! You are fantastic!
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