Portuguese designer Sandra Inês Mesquita da Conceição has been named the winner of this year’s global final of the Bombay Sapphire Designer Glass Competition, one of the top design contests in the world for up-and-coming designers.
Sandra, who is studying design at ESAD – Escola Superior de Artes e Design – in Matosinhos, Porto, collected the $15,000 prize from Bombay Sapphire Foundation member, Karim Rashid, at an awards event held as part of Milan Design Week.
Guests including international designers, media and the 21 global finalists gathered for the final judging of the glasses which are displayed within the Bombay Sapphire exhibition at Superstudio Piu in Milan.
The judging panel included high-profile international designers: Tom Dixon, Jaime Hayon and Marcel Wanders. Marcel described the winning glass as: “Truly innovative.
“It’s so different, playful and is like a very cool piece of jewellery. I love it!”
Called “Goobly”, the design is in two parts – a glass bowl for the cocktail and a total of 23 durable and shiny interconnected rings suspended from a main ring supporting the glass.
The metal elements allow for interaction, challenging the person drinking a cocktail to play with the glass and explore its shape without spilling the contents.
Two runner-up designers, Ronen Bauer from Canada and Stephan Gouraud from France, won $5,000 and $2,500 respectively.
In the last year, thousands of up-and-coming designers from around the world have designed martini cocktail glasses inspired by Bombay Sapphire and the 21 finalists in Milan represent: Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Portugal, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, the UK and USA.
For more information on the competition, go to www.designerglasscompetition.com.
To find out more about Bombay Sapphire, go to www.bombaysapphire.com.
Bombay Sapphire is imported, marketed and distributed in Malta by Wands Limited, a subsidiary company of The Farsons Group of Companies.