Student Alicia López Blanque wins the 7th Verallia Iberia Glass Design and Creation Contest

The creativity of the LCI community not only does not stop with the current situation, but continues to accumulate awards and recognitions. Today we congratulate Alicia López Blanque, student of the Bachelor's Degree in Product Design, who has just been proclaimed winner of the bottle creation contest organized by Verallia, the main European producer of glass containers for food and beverages and the third largest producer worldwide.

Under the slogan "One container, a thousand oils", the company launched the challenge of creating a standard model of oil bottle to students from various schools in Spain and Portugal. The jury, which met virtually, assessed the 115 proposals received and, based on criteria such as technical development and compliance with the brief, decided to award first prize to "Orobroy", Alicia's project. Paulo Pinto, general director of Verallia Iberia, was very satisfied with the great work done by the students in "thinking about and developing a design that has its own style but is viable for many brands".

Versatility is precisely one of the great qualities of "Orobroy", which can be seen in the image above. The container conceived by our student within the subject Packaging Design, taught by professor Isaac Salom, has a simple yet very adaptable shape that is reminiscent of the amphorae in which oil was preserved years ago. Its current, minimalist design aims to transmit the robustness of olive trees and to offer multiple possibilities for personalization (in fact, the project was presented together with different proposals for caps and labels).

After hearing the news about the award, we contacted Alicia, who acknowledged that she was very excited about this recognition and that her packaging will be produced and marketed by Verallia. She will also have the opportunity to participate in the contest's international finale, which will be held in Paris. "I'm sure there will be a lot of competition, but it will help me to see projects from other universities and continue to grow as a future designer," said the student, who values the support of the School very highly: "At LCI Barcelona they give us freedom when it comes to design and encourage us to choose our own path, but we know that the professors are always there to guide us and provide us with their experience". In her case, Alicia is clear that she wants to "create products that improve people's lives, design to help others".

We will soon publish the full interview she gave us, in which she talks about the whole process of creating "Orobroy" (what was her source of inspiration, how she faced the challenge of Verallia by applying what she learned in class, what weight sustainability has on her project, etc.). Until then, we just have to congratulate Alicia again and wish her good luck for the grand finale in Paris. We will keep you informed!