What is made?

The competition will begin with an open call which you can apply to directly on the MaDe website. Submit your entry to become part of a Creative Europe funded project that aims to boost the talent of material designers across Europe. The aim is to provide a platform giving recognition to the infinite potential materials and their designers have across all creative sectors encouraging a circular economy.

If you’re lucky enough to make the selection process all 120 participants will then have the opportunity to take part in a unique five day series of material development workshop across Barcelona, London and Milan. Twenty participants will be chosen for each workshop from each city and each partner Elisava, Ma-tt-er and Polimi will run two, one week-long workshops from April to November 2019.

For each workshop, the project will pay the flights and hosting of 10 foreign participants from the European zone.

During the workshops participants will be guided by experts in the field of materials science, sustainability, materials design, communication and/or business model to develop their own materials and explore their potential in products and industry.

Each workshop will be structured as follows:
Day 1. Materials first exploration: material sensor
qualities.
Day 2. Tinkering: trying different material recipes
Day 3. Refining recipes and samples
Day 4. Demonstration of material potential
Day 5. Material narrative and presentation

MaDe covers the flights and hosting of 10 foreign, but European, participants per workshop.
The project will cover flights, hosting and substance costs of the 3 finalist required to do the professional stage; as well as, flights and hosting to assist to the awards ceremony in Barcelona, where the winner will be proclaimed

All 120 chosen participants will be featured on the MaDe online platform which will feature each of persons profile, materials and talents. The MaDe platform acts as a gateway into industry, encouraging talent spotting which aims to kickstart material design careers across a number of creative sectors.

Proceeding the workshops and platform profiles there will be a further shortlist made of eighteen finalists. These lucky material designers will have the unique opportunity to develop their materials further to have them exhibited in some of the most world renowned design weeks and design festivals; Milan Design Week, Barcelona Design Week and London Design Festival in the year 2020,

The highly esteemed judging panel and the three partners will make a final selection of three winners. An awards ceremony will take place at the end of 2020 in Barcelona, where the three final winners will be awarded a bespoke trophy. All 120 participants will be able to attend the awards ceremony.

Three of the eighteen shortlisted participants will be awarded the opportunity to undertake a three month material design paid placement within industry to kickstart their careers as agents of change; MaDe (Material Designers).