NISSAN IN EUROPE LAUNCHES QASHQAI DESIGN COMPETITION
Think Outside the Parking Box
Impress Rashid & Lazarides by designing your way out of a tight parking space
Nissan in Europe in partnership with design website Designboom.com have launched an international design competition where participants will be invited to design a car park built around Nissan’s iconic car the Qashqai”.
The brief is to ‘think outside the parking box’ and provide cutting edge designs which challenge the current perception of urban parking, be that underground, multi-storey, ground level, shape, colour, atmosphere and signage.
Acclaimed international designer Karim Rashid a member of the judging panel said:
““Design is the marriage of personal artistic expression and practical human needs and desires. It is about shaping contemporary human experiences and shaping our future world, not about styling or appropriating the past. That is why I am supporting the Nissan ‘Think Outside the Parking Box’ design competition, creating alternative designs of the parking space. Our lives are elevated when we experience beauty, comfort, performance, innovation, and utility seamlessly together. This is design, this is evolution, this is progress”
UK art dealer and gallery owner, Steve Lazarides, a member of the judging panel said:
"There's a lot of talent out there at the moment, and I'm looking forward to seeing whether any of it has entered the ‘Think outside the parking box competition’."
Jean-Pierre Diernaz, Marketing Communication General Manager, Nissan Europe commented:
“At Nissan we pride ourselves in challenging convention through design and with thiscompetition we want to encourage others to think outside the box by taking a symbol of urban toughness (the car park) and adding a stylish dimension. This approach is the essence of our crossover Qashqai and illustrates perfectly the urbanproof attitude.
We are pleased to have partnered with designboom for this competition and honored to have acclaimed designer Karim Rashid and Steve Lazarides completing the judging panel. Designers from across the world have already entered the contest with the hope of seeing their work used in a European media campaign later this year and we are looking forward to seeing the results.”
Each individual design entry must include an image of the Qashqai or part of it, and ideas may be delivered as videos, objects or illustrations. The competition is open to all budding designers over the age of 18 and to enter the competition entrants must register on www.designboom.com . The closing date for entries is September 27th 2009.
The winning design will be selected by a jury of experts in October 2009 and the top three entries will be used as part of a European media campaign with additional cash prizes of €5000, €3000 and €2000 respectively.
The jury is made up of famous names from the design and automotive worlds including internationally acclaimed designer Karim Rashid, and Shiro Nakamura who is Senior Vice President and Chief Creative Officer for Design and Brand Management at Nissan Motor Company Ltd.
All terms and conditions for the competition can be found on the designboom website www.designboom.com
-ENDS-
For more information about the ‘Think outside the parking box competition’, please contact:
Sara Legouge Nissan Corporate Communications +41 21 822 59 13 slegouge@nissan-europe.com
Carly Gibb Hill & Knowlton +44 20 7413 3709 cgibb@hillandknowlton.com
About Nissan in Europe
Nissan employs around 13,500 people in its European design, research and development, manufacturing, logistics, and sales and marketing operations. In calendar year 2008, the company sold 601,647 vehicles across 40 markets in Western and Eastern Europe including Russia. Furthermore, the company produced a total of 539,580 vehicles in its Spanish and British plants. For more information, please go to www.nissaneurope-newsbureau.com