Upon the occasion of the Design Night of the Paris Motor Show at the end of September of this year, BASF launched its first international competition in the realm of car seat design. This contest is open to anyone interested in automotive design and seating comfort who develops a design concept for a car seat using BASF materials. The six-member jury is made up of three renowned industrial and automotive designers, namely, Konstantin Grcic, Ken Kiyoyuki Okuyama and Dave Lyon, as well as BASF representatives from different regions who are involved in the business of engineering plastics.This competition called “sit down. move.” is the brainchild of BASF’s global seat competence team together with the designfabrik, which houses the lion’s share of the BASF material competence resources that are of interest for designers. These materials include not only engineering thermoplastics such as Ultramid (PA), thermoplastic polyurethanes such as Elastollan, foams based on expanded polypropylene (Neopolen) and aromatic polyurethane (Elastoflex W) but also the transfer coating technology Steron, binders for natural fibers (Acrodur) and Catamold, BASF’s powder injection technology.
In a joint effort with automobile manufacturers and customers, BASF has already played a role in the development of several serially produced seats and studies on seat designs, a process in which its materials were instrumental in meeting a wide array of requirements. Nowadays, a car seat is a complex material system that has to combine the aspects of design and safety, cost considerations and functionality, weight reduction and resource savings, comfort and ergonomics. For this reason, the entrants are being asked to present their concept focusing on a central core message that takes into account one or more of these aspects.
Presentation of the winning concept in Geneva
The deadline for submission of the competition documentation is January 30, 2013. The three winners and their design concepts will be presented at the Design Night of the Geneva International Motor Show in March of 2013. The global winner will receive a cash prize in the amount of 6000 euros, while the two regional winners will be awarded 3000 euros each.
