Leesburg, VA – The global polymer processing company REHAU, in conjunction with furniture component manufacturer Hettich, recently presented awards to two groups of Canadian student winners from the 2011 International Design Award competition. 

Held on September 23 at the IIDEX/NEOCON Canada Design Exposition & Conference in Toronto, the awards presentation ceremony recognized the achievements of students from OCAD University (formerly the Ontario College of Art & Design) and the University of Toronto.

Recognizing Fresh Ideas

“As the furniture industry must continue to evolve to meet dynamic customer needs, we believe it’s imperative that fresh and creative ideas from students are recognized in a significant way,” said Thomas Troeger, North American business team manager for REHAU’s furniture business unit. “REHAU is honored to sponsor the International Design Award competition as a means to provide this recognition, and also to highlight new concepts that will very likely shape the future of furniture design.”

REHAU and partnering sponsor Hettich presented awards for the competition’s two Canadian winning entries: “Algeoli,” an air and water purification system designed as an attractive, customizable interior lighting element (Mae Shaban - University of Toronto); and “Wave,” a nanotechnology enabled unit for storing, refrigerating, freezing and utilizing food in a highly efficient manner (Marie Kudo, Jason Luk, Song Kim and Xuan Nguyen - OCAD University) 

More Awards to be Presented

Three additional student entries from the Academy of Fine Arts (Poland), Chulalongkorn University (Thailand) and Sangmyung University (Korea) will also receive awards at events in their respective regions. 

Presently in its eighth year, the International Design Award is a bi-annual competition recognizing innovative, forward-looking furniture concepts and systems and interior designs from students across the globe. 

The 2011 competition theme, “Design Your Living Space,” attracted entries from architecture and design students in more than 50 countries, and included innovations in the categories of living rooms/bedrooms, kitchens/food preparation areas and offices. www.internationaldesignaward.com.

REHAU employs approximately 15,000 employees at more than 170 locations around the world. www.rehau.com