For nearly twenty years, the Cinna Contest has been discovering emerging design talent and offering young designers an opportunity that has become increasingly rare in contemporary design publishing and production: the chance to see their projects evolve from an initial idea into a manufacture dproduct, brought to market and made available to the public. Through the exhibition Concours Cinna, de l’idée à l’édition (Cinna Contest: From Idea to Production), the Cité du design invites visitors to discover the human, educational and industrial dimensions of this adventure, exploring the different stages involved in transforming a creative intuition into a product designed to become part of our everyday lives.
Bringing together around forty award-winning pieces, the exhibition reflects the diversity of the creations supported by Cinna. Furniture, lighting, decorative objects and accessories are presented alongside sketches, prototypes, samples and audiovisual accounts, offering a unique insight into the processes behind their creation. Some projects are traced from their earliest sketches through to commercial production, while others highlight specific stages in their development.
The exhibition also looks back at the history of the competition and its role in fostering the emergence of young designers, while highlighting its close ties with art and design schools, particularly Ésad Saint-Étienne.
Curator: Maëlle Campagnoli Exhibition design: Laurène Veyrunes, Violette de Fleurian (Cinna), Cité du design
