Formica Corporation has announced the winners of its first-ever SurfaceSet Student Innovation Competition. The winners were chosen by a panel of expert design pros, including designer and author Jonathan Adler; Renee Hytry Derrington, group VP of design for Formica Group; and Formica North America residential design lead Gerri Chmiel and commercial design lead Scott Dannenfelser.
Elizabeth Ickes, of the University of Cincinnati, won first place for her Farmer’s Kitchen design, a commercial kitchen that can be used by local food vendors to make and sell their products. The retail space used products from the SurfaceSet 2016 collection’s Raw and Unfiltered palettes. Her prize: $5,000 and a signed vase from Jonathan Adler. “Farmer’s Kitchen is all about simplicity, and I think what the SurfaceSet 2016 collection provides really aided in its success,” says Ickes. “I think this competition is a great way for students to become familiar with all of the great products Formica Corporation has to offer.” Adler called her design “functional, hardworking and glamorous.”
Megan Miller, from the University of Minnesota, won second place for her millennial-centric office design, and Caitlin Bakofsky, from Philadelphia University, won third for her design of a luggage store.
