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Ana Loskiewicz, a Polish designer, is the winner of a competition sponsored by Corticeira Amorim, who challenged the international community of designers and architects to design new and innovative uses for cork products or improve the existing portfolio of cork-based products. From a total of 367 projects that were submitted to that competition, 20 international designers were invited to participate in a specialized workshop at Domaine de Boisbuchet. The goal of the workshop was to develop prototypes of such 20 selected ideas.

On 7 September, a jury – made up of representatives of Corticeira Amorim - and Alexander von Vegesack (a representative of Domaine de Boisbuchet and Vitra Design Museum), Gabriele Pezzini (Hermès design consultant - Paris), Cathleen O'Rourke (Director for Europe of Parsons the New School for Design - Paris), Luisa González-Portillo (Coordinator of the IED Master and Academic Director of Domaine de Boisbuchet), Rita João and Pedro Ferreira (both Portuguese designers at Pedrita) – selected CORK BEEHIVE by Anna Loskiewicz as the best project proposal based on its clear relevance and design. An award of € 10,000 was given to the winning designer.

Based on the characteristics of cork, Anna Loskiewicz designed CORK BEEHIVE, a modern beehive, drastically innovating one of the most ancient uses of cork, in complete symbiosis with nature. According to Anna Loskiewicz, this modern beehive model fits in the spirit of a sustainable urban landscape such as New York or London, cities where beekeeping is becoming increasingly popular.

In view of the relevance of the designs and the high quality of the resulting prototype, it was also decided to give five honorable mentions to the following finalist projects:

• Cork, a material with many faces, by Fabio Molinas
• Cork Chair, by Sou Fujimoto Architects Songs, headphones by Pauline Ariaux & Jacopo Ferrari
• Strip, an electric plug by Natalia Suwalski
• Day off, a cool box by Zaven studio

Carlos de Jesus, the marketing & communication manager of Corticeira Amorim and a member of the jury highlights "the excellence of the projects, including as far as innovation and design is concerned" and stresses that "the results of the workshop at Domaine de Boisbuschet were surprisingly positive as the finalist projects underlined the utilitarian aspect of cork and highlighted at the same time the versatility of this sustainable raw material."

Innovation and design, associated with cork, are the priorities identified by Corticeira Amorim, that has been steadily promoting the use of this raw material by the national and international creative community, featuring names like Fernando Brízio, Pedrita, Raw Edges, Nendo, Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei.