This spring, twelve of Spain’s leading design schools selected the best projects from among their students for a total of 123 entries in the fourth annual Spanish Design Competition for Students. Spain’s design community was greatly involved with its high levels of student and institution participation
and also with the participation of leading magazines and associations. The Spanish Wood Importers Association provided wood for students to construct their projects, and Muebles de Espana donated prizes. Established designers and representatives of design magazines served as judges, and Escuela D’Art i Superior de Disseny of Valencia, hosted the awards ceremony and an exhibition of the projects.
Speakers at the conference emphasized the importance of wood both as a sustainable resource and as an aesthetically valuable material. The designer Vicent Martinez told his audience, “The best solutions combine the best of the old and the best of the new, as, for example, with Scandinavian designers, who have never stopped using wood” then adding, “wood is one of the best suited materials for meeting the need of sustainable development, which is the only model which will guarantee our welfare and quality of life.”
