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III Edition of the ‘Best for Design’ Contest

APE Grupo organise son concours de design pour encourager les jeunes talents, avec l’Escola d’Art i Superior de Disseny de Castelló.

For the third year running, APE Grupo is holding its design contest to foster young talent. It is collaborating with the Escola d’Art i Superior de Disseny de Castelló (Superior School of Art and Design of Castellón — EASD). Until now, the challenge was aimed at final year students doing the Advanced Vocational Training Diploma (AVTD)  in Ceramic Coatings. This year, however, there is a new modality. For this edition, students of the degree in Interior Design at EASD Castelló and of the AVTD in Projects and Design Works Management are also invited to participate.

Through this initiative, the tile company aims to give students the opportunity to demonstrate their talent in front of a panel of judges. In addition the company provides them tools to start their professional career. In this edition, students from both programmes had the opportunity to visit the APE Grupo facilities before presenting their projects. There, they got to see our renovated showroom, learn all about the company’s know-how from the design team and understand our way of conceiving ceramics.

Final year students of the Higher Studies Course in Interior Design were the first to tour the company’s facilities. On 18 January, they presented their work in front of three representatives from APE Grupo and one EASD representative. This new modality represents a very important change in the contest’s dynamics. For the first time, the winner will be able to see their project come to life in a venue that has been designated exclusively for this purpose.

A total of eight projects were submitted in the ‘Interior Design’ category. The factors judges considered to assess the projects were: the idea underpinning the proposal, its originality, the use of the APE Best for You Hoss collection, how the series was combined with other materials and, finally, its alignment with the brand’s attributes. After weighing up these criteria, the winning proposal was ‘Hoss Gallery’ by student Mayte Canós.

Meanwhile, final year students of the AVTD in Ceramic Coatings are already working on their proposals, which they will present soon. For this occasion, the panel will assess the product design, innovation, presentation and its commercial potential. The winners of both categories will be awarded a 500-euro prize.

APE Grupo, committed to young talent

Design is one of APE Grupo’s cornerstones. Our team constantly strives to create innovative, original, fresh series that stay ahead of the latest trends. The ‘Best for Design’ contest was created in 2021 with this same ethos, and that is why the company evolves and expands the contest year after year by introducing new modalities, deepening students’ knowledge of the brand and setting new objectives. Among the latter is fostering young talent, identifying new trends in the sector from the vision of young people and improving APE Grupo’s employer branding by associating it with values such as innovation or leadership.

In doing so, the Castellón-based company positions itself as a company that is committed to the tile-makers of the future. In the words of the winners of the last editions: “it is a compliment to have a personal project recognised” and “winning the ‘Best for Design’ gives students motivation and confidence by receiving recognition from a specialised company in the sector”.