The French marque emphasised its role as a patron of design with the competition for young designers titled C-Design: Combine, Connect, Create. The brief was to reinterpret and combine a hundred mechanical and bodywork components picked from the Citroën automotive parts bin, including objects such as wings, handles, suspension elements, headlamps and so on, to invent new household products for everyday life.
The designs of the ten finalists (from which the three winners were selected) were adjudicated by a panel of experts composed of Fulvio Cinti, Alberto Bassi, Virginio Briatore, Ambra Medda, Anna Yudina and Jean-Pierre Ploué (director of the Citroën design centre) and headed by the designer and architect Ferruccio Laviani. Out of this eclectic jumble of objects came a number of innovative design solutions stimulating reflection on broader topics such as reuse and reinvention using semi-finished items.
First prize went to C-Sledge, a prototype sled by the Bulgarian Ognyan Bozhilov, who created an object that is both visionary and functional using a variety of car components including door posts from the C3 Pluriel and the rear seats from the C4 Picasso. The panel was impressed by the project’s underlying ‘ready-made’ concept, which is reminiscent of the chair-machine prototype by Achille Castiglioni and the armchair-chairlift by Franco Albini.
The article continues in Auto & Design no. 171
