Parsons Students Design Zero-Waste Luxury Products for Poltrona Frau “Wasteless” Competition

For the third year in a row, Italian furniture designers <a href="http://www.poltronafrau.com/portal/page/portal/new/webpages/poltronafrau/distribution/detail?p=code:2098&amp;lang=en">Poltrona Frau</a> challenged students at Parsons to convert the brand's leftover leather scraps into luxury accessory pieces. Over the course of seven weeks, fifteen students in <a href="http://inhabitat.com/nyc/parsons-designs-new-community-center-and-splash-house-for-highbridge-pool/">Parsons'</a> Product Design Program were challenged to think and design "green". Though only three students were awarded, all fifteen designs for the “Wasteless” competition were displayed at Poltrona Frau’s showroom during the International Contemporary Furniture Fair. Click through the gallery to take a look at some of the competing designs.

. In the third year of the competition co-sponsored by luxury Italian furniture designers Poltrona Frau, students were asked to convert leftover scraps of the brand’s leather into luxury accessory pieces in an attempt to maximize the potential of the material and emphasize Poltrona Frau’s Zero-Waste Design initiatives.

The first place winning design was awarded to Jenny Hsu for her design “Piqnique”—a woven utensils case for enjoying meals on the go that transforms into a chic leather placemat.

Yuna Kim and Benjamin Billick were awarded second and third place awards respectively for their designs, "Miovino" leather wine glass tags and "Tuft" candle holders.

The three winners will visit the Poltrona Frau factory, in Italy, this summer, where they will work with the master craftsmen to fabricate prototypes of their designs.

The panel of judges comprised of Federico Materazzi, executive vice president, Americas, Poltrona Frau; as well as legendary designer Massimo Vignelli, Metropolis editorial director Paul Makovsky, Parsons Interim Product Design Director Mark Bechtel, Ruggiero and Sara Gobbo, Senior Marketing Manager for the Poltrona Frau Group.

Yuna Kim and Benjamin Billick were awarded second and third place awards respectively for their designs, "Miovino" leather wine glass tags and "Tuft" candle holders.

Noemi Szalavari, who crafted "Spirale"—a vase that the judges felt possessed tremendous poetry and potential, but needed further development—was named as an honorable mention (the first in the history of the competition).