When Barack Obama signed into law his momentous healthcare bill, he did it using 20 different pens. President’s Obama saw not the power of the sword, but the eloquence of the pen, as part of his legacy. By donating the 20 pens to other Americans he hoped to instil a sense of purpose, a greater aspiration to design for America a more prosperous land.
For twenty-five years, the Acme Studio has produced many of America’s most culturally iconic pens; and this May, in partnership with Equinox, Belfast’s leading boutique design store, Equinox is launching a competition to design ‘The Belfast Pen’.
The public competition will invite visitors and local people to create a design which will be used by Acme Studios to create ‘The Belfast Pen’.
Equinox, which is also celebrating its 25 year anniversary, is promoting the Acme Pen Design Competition as part of its campaign to bring leading designers and luxury brand ambassadors to the city. Kay Gilbert, Equinox founder and managing partner, said: “Acme pens are globally-renowned for their design excellence. Many of their pens become expensive collector’s items, often because Acme brings to its studios some of the design world’s great names and creative characters.”
“Acme design collaborations have included projects with Ettore Sottsass, Michael Graves, Karim Rashid, Ben Hall, Timo Sarpaneva, George Sowden, Matteo Thun – not always names recognised on the High Street, but whose influence has shaped our attitudes to design for more than a generation.”
She added: “To launch this competition, Equinox will host an in store Acme Pen event in May, at which a showcase of Acme’s huge range of designs will be on display.”
“We are inviting architects, local design schools, senior schools, airlines and the NI tourist agencies to participate in the promotion of this competition. The design brief is very simple – ‘Capture the Culture, Tradition and Spirit of Belfast’. A design template can be downloaded from the Equinox website: the design may be colour or monochrome. The design doesn’t have to be print ready from a computer graphics package, but can be a hand drawn design suitable for interpretation – which means travellers in the airport can make use of their waiting time to sketch their vision of Belfast.”
Entries can be submitted by e-mail, post, or delivery in person to Equinox. Judging will take place in September by a distinguished panel drawn from design foundations and public life. Ten finalists will be chosen and their entries exhibited in a public display. The winning pen design will go into production in early 2011. The winning design receives a £500 Equinox gift voucher.
For more information:www.equinoxshop.com
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