Polestar’s design competition returns with eco focus

Guided by the overarching theme ‘progressive’, Polestar’s design competition, which returns for a second year after a highly successful debut in 2020, calls on entrants to envision future electric mobility in a socially progressive and sustainable way. Acknowledging the rapidly changing landscape of transportation, Polestar says that entries need not be cars, just that the work needs to resonate with the brand. 

The contest features both student and professional categories, with initial designs submitted in the form of sketches or digital images. Polestar asks that entries display new ways of thinking that encourage positive societal change, including responses to the climate crisis. 

Shortlisted submissions will be critiqued and will receive feedback from head of design at Polestar, Maximilian Missoni and Polestar’s sustainability lead. The category winners’ work will be exhibited as 1:5 scale models, which will tour Polestar spaces around the world. In addition, the winners will be flown to either Polestar Chengdu or the headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden to attend the Polestar design exhibition. The global exposure of the work led to Demna Gvasalia, creative director at luxury fashion house Balenciaga integrating the designs into a virtual Autumn/Winter show in 2020. To aid in their continued development as designers, winners will also receive a computer and tablet, along with a trophy. 

“In a landscape of disruptive technologies, evolving lifestyles and fast-growing concern for climate change, design can be the driving force for positive change. We believe our contest provides a great platform for the design community to visualise progressive mobility ideas of the future,” says Maximilian Missoni, head of design at Polestar.

The 2020 contest drew over 600 applications from across the world. Entries included an array of cutting-edge design concepts, from prosthetic springboard blades for walking, to an autonomous pod, to a luxury yacht that captured Polestar’s minimalistic design tonality. One of the winning designs was an airship that looked 20 years ahead, combining Polestar’s design ethos with 21st century aviation. 

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“Polestar is a design-born, purpose-led electric car brand, on a mission to accelerate the shift to sustainable mobility,” explains Juan Pablo Bernal, senior interior design manager at Polestar, and curator of the @polestardesigncommunity Instagram page. “We feel the ‘progressive’ theme provides a unique canvas for designers around the world to express their creativity in the pursuit of our shared goals.”