The DWR Champagne Cork Chair Contest Winners, Finalists and Honorable Mentions.

Congratulations to the winners of DWR's 2013 DWR Champagne Chair Contest. Reportedly choosing the top three was one of the toughest decisions the judges ever had to make in this contest. The judges DWR President and CEO John Edelman; COO John McPhee; VP of Merchandising Kari Woldum; and VP of Marketing and Creative Michael Sainato -- send their sincere appreciation to all of the entrants this year.

Instead of simply sending you toview the winners on their their blog (which is bizarrely narrow and small and makes it hard to see the images), I've enlarged them and included the finalists and honorable mentions for you.

First Place Winner:

$1,000 DWR Gift Card goes to Miwa F. for her "Rockin' Chaise." This design is truly masterful with a functional drink holder that moves. Our judges loved the innovation of this design using mid-century aestethics and were impressed with how the materials come together into one seamless piece.

Second Place Winner:

A $500 DWR Gift Card goes to Jeffery Molter who designed a modern folding chair as well as a case to store it in. Our judges were so impressed with this design and we cannot remember ever receiving anything like this before. Form meets funciton with this whimsical yet useful piece.

Third Place Winner:

A $250 DWR Gift Card goes to Aaron Padilla. Named "F8 Chaise," this is beautifully constructed, unique design. The underside of the seat is fully sculpted of cork and the the upholstery overlaying it is a foil basketweave. Thank you Aaron for this clean and well thought out design. We also loved the packaging it came in!

Finalists:
Wing Back, Designed by Kathryn Bachen:

Mantis Lounge, Designed by Billy Wages:

Rowan Rowan, Designed by Purin Phanichpant:

Champagne Chair, Designed by Willie and Tess:

The "O" Chair, Designed by Alfonso:

Champagne Chair, Designed by Alison Brummer:

Chateau Chair, Designed by Sawa Sakane:


The 7 Honorable Mentions
Mackwire, Designed by Devin Mack:

Circle Gets the Square, Designed by Catherine Choi:

Poltrona W., Designed by Mauricio Avilés del Río:

Champagne Twist, Designed by Dan Nawrocki:

Watch Your Step, Designed by Tony Abraham:

Royal Scrapenbaum, Designed by Dario Polaco:

Grape Divine, Designed by Tony Enn:


DWR would like to congratulate the winners and all of the contestants on their beautiful, innovative and functional designs this year. You can browse all 319 submissions here.

Drink Up and Start Designing. It's The DWR Champagne Chair Contest.

Once again, Design Within Reach has brought back their Champagne Chair contest. All you have to do is create an original miniature chair using only the foil, label, cage and cork from no more than two champagne bottles.


Info from their site:



A panel of DWR champagne and chair experts will judge the chairs, and three winners will receive a DWR Gift Card. The deadline for submissions is January 14.

To get inspired, here's a few of the past submissions from previous years.

Anna Uniezyski:

Alex Garzon:

Brandy Shih:

Emily Kann:

Erin Mitchen:

David Ethan Sanders:

Edward Cristma:

Gavri Slasky:

Isaac Krady:

Ivan Supraha:

Kalina Toffolo:

Lynne Mulvihill:

Monte Allen:

Phil Dwyer:

Tim Jacobsen:

Tony Nemyer:

Tracee Pickett:

You can see more finalists from their 2007 contest I covered here.

The contest began December 28th and you have until January 14th, so get on it! After you've designed your chair, feel free to share it on Instagram and Twitter with #dwrchampagnechair

images and info courtesy of DWR

The Gap & Ecouterre's Recycled Denim Challenge Finalists

Inhabitat and Ecouterre recently held a Denim Design Challenge sponsored by the Gap in which they asked people to recycle their old denim into new and functional items. The winners will appear online tomorrow.

It's too late to enter now, and voting on the finalists ended yesterday. But I still thought I'd show you some of my personal favorites from the numerous finalists.

Hyun Gun Jung's geometric denim dress:

Siddharth Hirwani's recycled denim cots:


Elina Priha recycled denim jacket:

Justin Blakely's recycled denim doggie vest:

Recycled denim mattress by Open Your Eyes:


Woven recycled denim shoulder bag by Miranda Chance:

Bondi Biker recycled denim jacket by Sawy:

Rebecca Butler's recycled denim Bikini:

The Zeppelin Denim Duffle Bag With Leather Accents by Chance:

Lisa Williams recycled denim skull baby booties:

Angela Friedman Denim Corset:



See all the finalists here

The invitation to the contest read as follows:
CALLING ALL DESIGNERS & CRAFTY DENIM DIY-ERS!

Jeans are one of the few universally worn and loved garments around the world. Wardrobe staples for everyone from fashionistas to tiny tots, to the burliest construction workers, jeans are a simple basic that everyone has in their closet. But what do you do when your jeans wear out on you? Ecouterre wanted to know, so they’ve partnered with the Gap 1969 Stream to shine a light on the most creative denim reinventions on the planet—show us your stuff and stand a chance to be featured on Ecouterre, Inhabitat, and the Gap 1969 Stream, plus a $200 Gap gift certificate.

The deadline for this competition WAS 11:59 p.m. EDT, October 24, 2010 and the competition is closed. Winners will be announced on Monday, November 8th and featured on the Gap 1969 Stream.

The official rules can be found here.