Design Art and Photography

December 12, 2008

This iconic coffee cup, often clutched by New York City residents on the go, is the inspiration for a new Couture design contest. 

New York–Organizers of the Couture Club Pavilion at the upcoming JA New York Winter Show have invited all exhibiting members to put on their creative hats in a new design challenge: re-imagining the iconic New York Greek coffee cup as a piece of wearable art.

New Yorkers use and throw away as many as 15 million of the coffee cups in a single month, and with that idea in mind, the contest is designed to inspire the industry to reduce, reuse and recycle, all while paying homage to New York–America’s style capital.

Designers participating in the contest, dubbed the “Couture-NY Designer Challenge,” must use a portion or an entire coffee cup in their piece of wearable art. In addition, the piece should include traditional metalsmithing materials of their choosing, such as gold, diamonds or platinum.

Among the contestants are designers Gurhan, Shaesby, Chad Allison and Heather Moore.

Applications are due Dec. 24, with voting to begin online on Jan. 5. All final designs will be on display in the Couture Club Pavilion throughout the JA New York Winter Show, with one grand-prize winner and two runner-ups to be announced at a media reception for editors, stylists and costume designers on Monday, Jan. 19.

For more information about the contest, e-mail Michelle Orman at couture@luprocks.com.For details on Couture, visit Couture09.com or JA-NewYork.com.