Bompas & Parr’s Fountain of Hygiene: Sanitizer Design Competition

bompas and parr fountain of hygiene

With creatives and crafters working from home around the world, Bompas & Parr announced the Fountain of Hygiene: Sanitiser Design Competition. Open to all, the project invited anyone to design inspired takes on sanitizer pumps and washing rituals. Models of the top ten submissions will be auctioned by Christie’s to generate further funds for the British Red Cross.

Bompas & Parr’s Fountain of Hygiene: Sanitizer Design Competition

Sanitizer Design Competition fountain of hygiene

The project seeks to challenge and inspire the design community to envision the future of sanitizer and safe socializing by exploring the aesthetic, functional, social, gestural and experiential possibilities of enhanced hygiene.

bompas and parr fountain of hygiene

bompas and parr fountain of hygiene

The shortlisted projects will be presented to the jury in the first week of April. These experts will select the winners of each category, who will have their proposal displayed at the Design Museum (once it reopens) and online. Models of the top ten submissions will be auctioned by Christie’s, at the exhibition launch, with proceeds going to the British Red Cross.

bompass and parr sanitizer design competition

bompass and parr sanitizer design competition

With more than 190 countries and territories now affected by coronavirus (COVID-19), hand washing and enhanced hygiene has been identified by the British Government as one of the most effective way to prevent and slow its spread. The competition seeks to explore the aesthetic, functional, social, gestural and experiential possibilities of enhanced hygiene. It is hoped that this will accelerate the establishment of new behavioural norms which benefit the ongoing health of global society. Ultimately the aim is to explore how people can safely re-enter the public realm.

Through a rethinking of the artefacts, gestures, rituals and communication of hygiene and sanitiser gel, the open competition seeks to normalise enhanced cleanliness in both the public and domestic realms. This is with a view to exploring how people can safely move back towards the rhythms of their lives, pre-virus.

crystallized hand sanitizer

The initiative sits within the wider context of the creative industries using the means at their disposal to reduce the physical, social and economic impact of the virus.

Bompas & Parr’s work explores humankind’s relationship with the senses, with past projects including the launch of the British Museum of Food, the world’s first cultural institution exclusively dedicated to food and drink. Hygiene, hand washing and health and safety have always been significant aspects of the food system and central to the studio’s approach.

Fountain of Hygiene select jury
• Jules Chappell OBE – Managing Director of the Mayor Of London’s Promotional And Economic Development Agency, London & Partners
• Marcus Fairs – Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Dezeen
• Tim Marlow OBE – Chief Executive and Director, Design Museum
• Harry Parr – Architect and Founder of Bompas & Parr
• Deb Pellen – Global Director, Innovation at Bacardi
• Serena Rees – British Businesswoman and Founder of les boys les girls
• Prof Charles Spence – Experimental Psychologist and Head of the University of Oxford’s Crossmodal Research Laboratory
• Bee Wilson – Food Journalist, Author and Historian

A shortlist will be chosen by their panel of distinguished judges with awards presented in the following categories:
– Industrial Design
– Luxury Design
– Gesture and Ritual
– Awareness and Communication
– Child-Directed Design
– Cadet Designer (Entered by adult on behalf of under-18 participant)
– Hygiene Innovation Beyond the Sanitiser

Each submission will be evaluated using the following four parameters: innovation, functionality, social impact and aesthetic. Media partner for the project is Dezeen.

In order to enter, they ask that you make a donation to the British Red Cross using the link below, in order to support their humanitarian work during this extraordinary time. The receipt of this donation should be included in your application as proof of entry.
https://donate.redcross.org.uk/appeal/national-emergencies-trust-coronavirus-appeal

images courtesy of Bompas & Parr