1. PURPOSE OF THE COMPETITION
PORADA ARREDI S.r.l., in cooperation with POLI.design, founded by Politecnico di Milano, announces an international ideas competition to identify new innovative concepts for various types of TABLES, in which the use of solid wood is prevalent (but not necessarily exclusive) and which conveys the values and identity of the Porada brand.
The wood, in natural essence—preferably from among those most commonly used by the company—or lacquered, may be combined with other materials (preferably chosen from those in the collection http://www.porada.it/materiali-e-finiture/).
Submitted designs must be original and unpublished. They shall enhance the use of production technologies and processes typical of solid wood, taking into account, in addition to functional requirements, current safety regulations, ergonomic standards, and environmental and sustainable design considerations.
2. TERMS OF PARTICIPATION
The competition is open to:
- Professionals category (mark P): Italian and/or foreign designers working independently or employed by companies (if duly authorized by their company; the authorization must be uploaded to the portal before the competition deadline).
- Students category (mark S): Italian and/or foreign students enrolled in Bachelor's or Master's programs, recent graduates, and students of secondary schools.
Group entries are allowed for both categories. In this case, the group must appoint a leader who will act as the sole point of contact with POLI.design.
By submitting an application, participants unconditionally accept the terms of this competition.
Participation is prohibited for Jury members, their relatives, employees of Porada and POLI.design, and freelance designers currently designing or who have designed products for Porada in the past.
Projects must be original, unpublished, and exclusively developed for this competition.
Each participant (or group) may submit only one project.
Participation is anonymous and free of charge. Each competitor must create a numeric code (a six-digit number, with no digit repeated more than twice and not in sequence) to identify the files mentioned in Article 4.
For the Professionals category: add the letter 'P' as a prefix.
For the Students category: add the letter 'S' as a prefix.
Failure to comply, in whole or in part, may result in disqualification.
3. APPLICATION OF PARTICIPATION
Applications and submission of required materials must be made through the online procedure available at:
http://www.porada-design-award.polidesign.net
The application must include: personal details, tax ID number, address, landline and mobile phone numbers, email address, and an explicit declaration of understanding and unconditional acceptance of this competition. For Students, the name of the university or school, campus, course of study, and year of attendance must also be provided.
The code and participant(s) name(s) must appear only in the application form; no name may appear on any submitted materials, under penalty of exclusion.
4. REQUIRED DOCUMENTS
All submissions must be digital and uploaded through the online portal by the deadline indicated in Article 5.
Each participant (or group), after registering at http://www.porada-design-award.polidesign.net, must upload:
- A brief descriptive report in Italian or English (max. 3000 characters, i.e., one page), without images, describing the motivations, general concept, and materials of the project. The .pdf file must be on a vertical ISO-A4 format sheet (21 x 29.7 cm) and must be named 'report_[insert_your_code]'. The header must contain only the alphanumeric code indicated in art. 2 and the optional project name/title;
- Graphic boards consisting of 3 horizontal ISO-A3 sheets (42 x 29.7 cm) in .pdf format, composed using the templates available after registration in the 'template' section of the website http://www.porada-design-award.polidesign.net, containing:
- Board 1: an overview, reference scenarios and modes of use, mood board, general concept of the object in the context of use and sources of inspiration;
- Board 2: technical drawings: plans, elevations, sections, axonometric views, exploded views, dimensioned construction drawings at appropriate scales, and details of materials considered significant;
- Board 3: representation of the object, renderings, photos of the model.
The three boards must be combined in a single .pdf file named 'boards_[insert_your_code]' (maximum file size 5 MB). Submissions exceeding the required number of boards are not allowed. - A preview image summarizing the project's key features (render or other significant image), which will be the first image viewed by the judges to identify the project, in .jpg format, named 'preview_[insert_your_code]' (maximum file size 1 MB).
Files must be uploaded only via the online procedure. Submissions via server links will be considered not received, while submissions via regular or certified email will be automatically excluded as they compromise anonymity.
After uploading, a confirmation email will be sent. Files can be modified or replaced until the competition deadline. After this date, personal pages will no longer be accessible to users.
Since the contest is anonymous, no personal name may appear on any submitted entry, under penalty of exclusion.
5. CALENDAR
Digital submissions must be uploaded no later than 24:00 on January 31st, 2027.
6. JURY
The jury, with voting rights, is composed of:
- Two representatives from Porada
- One representative from ADI – Associazione per il Disegno Industriale
- One representative from POLI.design
- Five members among design professionals and industry editors.
Jury deliberations are confidential and no further clarification may be requested. The final report, containing the list of winners and any mentions or selections, will be made public. The Jury decides by majority vote and its decision is final. Jury deliberations must conclude no later than February 26th, 2027.
7. ASSESSMENT CRITERIA
The selection and evaluation of the projects will take into account their originality, the level of innovation and research of new design solutions related to typical solid wood processing, the experimentation with materials and surface finishes, the ability of the projects to define and anticipate usage scenarios and innovative concepts in the use of wooden furniture and contemporary furnishings, with particular regard to the typological, technological and morphological determinations of the tables, and the alignment of the proposed solutions with the values and identity of the Porada brand.
8. PRIZES AND HONOURABLE MENTIONS
The total prize money of € 10,000.00 will be allocated as follows:
PROFESSIONALS Category:
1st prize € 2,500
2nd prize € 1,500
3rd prize € 1,000
STUDENTS Category:
1st prize € 2,500
2nd prize € 1,500
3rd prize € 1,000
The "Giacomo Allievi Special Mention" prize of € 1,000.00 may be awarded to one student or one professional. A dedicated jury will select the project that, among all entries, best balances traditional wood craftsmanship and modern design in the structural and creative development of the project.
9. AUTHORIZATION AND OWNERSHIP OF THE DESIGNS
Competition participants retain ownership and the rights of exploitation of their works.
Porada reserves the right to stipulate a contract for the industrial exploitation of the projects with the designers of the winning or mentioned projects.
Porada is granted a one-year option from the date of the jury's report to use awarded projects. Within this period, the company will evaluate whether to put the design into production and in that case, the economic agreement with the designer will be defined in a specific contract. Porada will not modify submitted works without the designer's consent.
Porada also has the right to request a one-year option on non-awarded projects, subject to agreed fees.
10. INFORMATION AND PUBLICATION OF RESULTS
Winners will be notified by email within the established timeframe.
Porada will present the initiative to the trade press and communicate the results of the competition during an event, to be announced later.
Participants authorize Porada to publicly display their projects (exhibitions and events of various kinds) and to publish them in catalogues or trade media publications; no compensation is due, except for the obligation to credit the author(s).
11. NOTICE PURSUANT TO ART. 13 OF EU REGULATION 2016/679 (GDPR)
For information regarding the processing of personal data for participation in the competition and to exercise rights under Articles 15 et seq. GDPR, please refer in full to the privacy notice pursuant to Art. 13 GDPR attached to this document.