Habitat Valencia Fair is a commercial showcase for the main Spanish brands of design and a platform for young designers and emerging talents. The fair seeks to present the proposals from the schools and universities of design that promote self-publishing. This year, the Fair wanted to promote young designers, giving them the chance to showcase their talents at design , a product based on the customization of a chair.

Three students from Tecnun participated in this contest, Maria José Cabrera, Marcos González and Elena Bastida, who also won the first prize award "for their creative ability to provide an alternative use for the chair and find that all the pieces fit perfectly to turn it into a swing," according to the jury's decision. The three students from the School recount their participation in this contest.

How did you find out about this contest?

We found out when we were at the fair in Valencia about the Actiu workshop, which is the company that proposed the workshop. Through the NUDE platform we were able to enter and see what the contest was like, its process and its goal. It consisted exactly in customizing or interpreting a new Wave chair during the whole designweek.

Why did you decide to apply?

We decided to present ourselves because we were surrounded by design all week, we got motivated and decided to take on this challenge. The truth is that, as we decided to do it while we were in Valencia, we had no materials or tools. In addition, time was not in our favor since we decided on Thursday and we had to present it on Friday. For this reason, unlike the universities and students in Valencia, we had to think "out of the box", use the resources we had (a knife and a rope) and try to reinterpret the chair. But we were the only group that gave it a totally different use, turning it into a swing.

What has award meant to you?

In addition to the remuneration we obtained, it was very gratifying to be the winners, since it was the first time that Tecnun participated in the fair, and we left the name of the University in a big way in front of a reference company in the sector of furniture for work spaces.

Any curious anecdotes that happened to you while you were there?

The truth is that we were at the fair from first thing in the morning until seven o'clock in the evening. As we didn't have time during the fair, we had to carry the chair all over the metro to the apartment where we were staying, redesign it at night and carry it again. It was very funny to see Marcos with the chair and then with the swing on his shoulders walking all over Valencia.