São Paulo – São Paulo-based lightning and décor company Crystal Star has recently launched a light fixture and chandelier design competition for designers and architects. Registration is open until May, and results will be revealed in June. The winners of two categories will win a trip to Egypt in October.
Crystal Star’s president is Egyptian Brazilian Mohammed Darwich (pictured above), who says Arab companies find it hard to understand the Latin American market. “To understand this market, there is nothing better than dealing directly with the designers and opinion leaders,” Darwich told ANBA. He says he’s running the contest to bring together the best designers and architects and develop quality products with a Brazilian design to serve the market.
Registration to participate in the contest opened in February, and architects and designers who are partners and customers of Crystal Star can participate. The competition has three categories: Design, Popular Vote, and Fidelity.
In the Design category, the participants must make a purchase during the contest period of any value to participate. The panel of judges consists of a lighting designer, specialist journalists, a photographer, a design professor, and an architecture professor. One finalist will be selected every month according to the aesthetic and manufacture criteria set by the judges. The shortlisted projects will be made public on the social media of the magazine Decorar. The winning project will win a trip to Egypt.
As for the Fidelity category, the designer that purchases BRL 150,000 (USD 32,000) in Crystal Star products before June 30 will be automatically awarded and have a design shown at the Crystal Star exhibition if they are not already among the finalists. Even if they don’t submit any project, they will participate in the Egypt trip as a Fidelity winner.
At the end of the campaign, the participants will be invited to exhibit their pieces on the social media, and the popular vote will choose the winner, who’ll win a trip to Florianópolis.
In addition to the trips, the product could be manufactured and sold by Crystal Star, and they will get future royalties.
The trip to Egypt includes an air ticked from São Paulo to Cairo in economic class; a five-nights accommodation in Cairo in a five-star hotel (Hilton Ramses or Le Meridien Heliopolis); breakfast; tours to the pyramids and the Sphinx, papyri plant, Cairo Museum, Ancient Cairo, Asfour and Tiaria crystal plant, and others; as well as a Portuguese-speaking guide and full assistance by EGP Viagens.
Darwich said Crystal Star is Egypt’s Asfour official representative in Latin America. Asfour is a direct competitor of Austria’s Swarovsky, and one of the world’s largest crystal companies.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
