Last week I went to a fabulous event which took place in a new, beautiful, multimedia Mazda Space in stylish Born district of Barcelona in the honor of young design student Cristina Torrent getting a scholarship to the graduate design fashion school in Spain, as a winner of Grant Rebels by Mazda Espana & Marie Claire Espana competition.
More then 200 designers took part in Mazda's competition but the competition jury recognized Christina Torrent capsule collection as a winner for being: rebellious, multifunctional, innovative, young and fresh design as best fitting to philosophy of Mazda brand.
Cristina Torrent, the winner of this competition is a 26 years old architect from Barcelona who is going to go to study in London for a semester where she hopes to learn new things but also to get inspired by London's fashion and architecture multinational scene. After spending a semester in London Christina is coming back to Barcelona where she will pursue her masters degree thanks to Mazda's scholarship.
During her speech Marie Claire Espana director Maria Pardo de Santayana said that Christina won her over with architectural inspirations and multi-functionality of her designs:"The winning garments challenge the conventions and demand attention by being innovative. The result is a brilliant multifunctional design."
Benno Gaessler, Mazda CEO in Spain said:"We are proud to promote and grow entrepreneurs. In this case, the designers who dared to design rebelliously, break the molds and add value."
I was equally impressed with Christina's collection as with gorgeous multimedia Mazda Space (more then 200 m2) which purpose is not only to display Mazda cars but also to host concert, presentations and cultural events.
Here are some interesting facts about Mazda cars:
#1 The first car to wear the Mazda badge was the ‘special’ R360 Coupe
#2 The largest parade of Mazdas was at the grounds of the UNESCO Zollverein World Heritage site in Essen, Germany in 2010. There were 459 MX-5 owners in total.
#3 Mazda company is originally from Hiroshima, Japan
#4 Mazda MX-5 broke two Guinness World Records (most sold sports two seater car)
#5 Mazda is 15th biggest car maker worldwide
Car industry was always flirting and standing close to fashion having Mercedes Benz sponsoring all major global fashion weeks and other car companies featuring celebrity models and doing photo shoots with well known designer brands as both clothing and car companies are selling the image, the desired look and luxury. It is encouraging to see that companies like Mazda are investing their money in charity projects and young designer sponsorships, especially considering today's economy and how hard and expensive it is to get a good quality education and a design job!
Well done Mazda!
Social Icons