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THE name
is one of the most trusted brands in kitchenware that
you grew up with. The brightly colored durable material
with airtight-lid containers held your snacks in place,
kept your lunch intact, and practically contained every
meal that could be brought to school or those annual
company outings. But who would have thought that your
favorite containers could be fashioned to works of art?
Tupperware has clearly revolutionized the lives of
millions of homemakers around the world and has changed
the landscape of food storage for more than five
decades. It was introduced in post-war 1946 by Earl
Tupper, and has since become an American cultural icon.
Its phenomenal success continues to the present day, and
has gone beyond its traditional function with a wider
selection of designs—from the strictly utilitarian
plastic food container of yore, to a sleeker and more
contemporary look that can contain just about anything
with style to spare.
THE winning entry “Lobster
Dinner”
Its
affair with art and design has made the brand the
recipient of the National Design Award in Corporate
Achievement in 2001 by the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt
National Design Museum. It was given in recognition of
the consistent ingenuity and insight that Tupperware
products have demonstrated in relationship to design and
quality of life in the US. And, yes, Tupperware does
have a strong presence in museums and art galleries,
such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York,
Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Victoria and Albert
Museum in London, and the Royal Museums for Art and
History in Brussels, to name a few.
With
this fusion of utility and the creative, it’s no wonder
that “Translations in Tupperware” was born. A global
design contest, it invites consumers and designers to
create an inspired piece of art or a unique functional
product using Tupperware materials.
The
global design contest is split into three categories:
fashion, utility objects and free form. The contest
participants are asked to create one-of-a-kind pieces
that take Tupperware out of the kitchen and into a world
of fanciful design and intriguing art. The results are a
transformation of the everyday kitchen accessory to an
extraordinary showcase of talent, ingenuity and unique
creativity. For the past two years, the competition in
the Philippines was limited to the sales force,
distributors and Tupperware head office associates. This
year the competition was opened to the design students
of the De La Salle University-College of St. Benilde (DLSU-CSB).
TUPPERWARE
recently awarded the local winners of “Translations in
Tupperware” Global Design Competition, where students
from De La Salle University-College of St. Benilde (DLSU-CSB)
created art pieces using Tupperware’s durable kitchen
and storage wares. The “Lobster Dinner” art piece,
created by Ronald Collado (third from left), won the
grand prize. His entry will be sent to Orlando, USA, to
compete with other entries from 23 participating
countries. In photo with Collado are (from left)
DLSU-CSB incoming chairman for the Industrial Design
program Victorino Datuin and fellow winners Anthony
Brian Cruz (third place), Gino Renell Cervantes (second
place) and Anna Baraoidan (fourth place), with
Tupperware Philippines country head Yvette Navarro.
Yvette
Navarro, country head of Tupperware Philippines, said it
was about time to involve the youth and see what they
could come up with. “We decided to partner with DLSU-College
of
St. Benilde, one
of the country’s premier schools of design, because we
want to give Filipino students a chance to explore and
discover their potential with this year’s competition,”
she said.
Led by
the dean of
School of
Design
and Arts Gerard Torres, the judges were composed of
design department faculty members Patrick Sunico,
Roberto Bernardo, Leo Santos and Veronica Solano, along
with Tupperware senior marketing manager Mari Reyes. The
judges looked into each entry’s creativity,
craftsmanship, originality and functionality.
Third-year student Ronald Collado won first place for
his “Lobster Dinner” entry; Gino Renell Cervantes placed
second for “Motorbike”; and Anthony Brian Cruz finished
third for “Flightpath.” Collado’s piece, which was
playful and quirky, will be the Philippine entry to the
global competition in the free-form category. When asked
what his inspiration was, the 22-year-old student
replied sheepishly, “Food, of course, made a great
concept for the project.”
Evelyn
Tabaniag was the big winner in the fashion category in
last year’s competition, besting the other entries from
the 23 participating countries with her elegant evening
lace bag made of the Tupperware Sandwich Keeper, and
embellished with beads and lace to create a soft and
feminine silhouette. Evelyn and her husband Ronaldo flew
to
New York
to see her work displayed at the Time Warner Center.
The
entries from the participating countries for this year’s
global competition will be viewed and judged by an
esteemed panel consisting of taste makers and
influential personalities in the design community. This
year’s winners will receive an all-expense-paid trip for
two to Orlando, Florida, USA, where the best examples of
contemporary art fashioned out of Tupperware products
will be unveiled. The grand prize is convertible to
$5,000 cash.
After 50
years of meeting the ever-evolving demands of consumers,
Tupperware’s efforts to improve not only the utility but
also the design of their products continue. Just as Earl
Tupper’s early plastics revolutionized food storage and
preparation, today’s Tupperware continues to enhance
lifestyles with a fusion of technology, quality and
style, resulting in a lifetime warranty of kitchen art
evolution. |
