Mark Thompson of Staffordshire-based firm Printdesigns has been named as the winner of the Fespa Fabric 2014 t-shirt design competition, receiving 522 votes from visitors at the exhibition and winning the grand prize of €250. Second and third place went to Noe Garcia and Federica Micalizzi respectively.
The competition, which was intended to showcase the creativity possible in garment decoration and textile print, received 46 entries. Five were shortlisted and displayed at Fespa Digital 2014 in Munich last month where visitors voted for their favourite design.
“I think the winning t-shirt met the brief in that it took elements of the show's theme and ultimately translated them with a fun graphic and a bit of humour. I think that’s what people reacted to,” said Fespa’s head of new media and events Duncan MacOwan.
Meanwhile, after a four-day battle spanning each day of the show, Kiss Lajos from Hungary was awarded the title of Fespa World Wrap Master 2014. Second and third prize went to, respectively, Colin Sciberras from Malta and Robert Davidson from Ireland.
As part of this year’s competition, participants had to wrap objects including mannequins, loudspeakers and bathroom objects as well as cars.
This year’s event also gave visitors to the show the opportunity to try their hand at wrapping a car door in a head-to-head competition.
“The contest got a great reception. There was a decent crowd and we had a lot of visitors coming onto the booth and getting involved,” said MacOwan.
“The fact that we had different things to wrap this year generated quite a bit of interest from visitors. Our competitors were certainly challenged a bit more by the inclusion of the items other than cars.”
Fespa organisers have also announced further details of Fespa Africa 2014, which will take place from 2-4 July at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Johannesburg.
The show looks set to be the largest exhibition in the region to date after securing commitment from global companies including Canon, Agfa, Mimaki, Fujifilm and Epson.
A strong line-up of screen printing manufacturers, including MHM, M&R, Extris and Fimor, have also confirmed their attendance.
The show is set to be 50% larger than the 2013 edition of Sign Africa, Visual Communications Africa and Africa Print 2013, which was organised by Fespa Africa’s partner Practical Publishing.
This year Sign Africa and Visual Communications Africa are incorporated into Fespa Africa, which is located with Africa Print.
“The show is looking really good in terms of registrations and floor space. What we bring to the mix is the Fespa brand and way of doing things but also a more international audience and exhibitor base,” said MacOwan.
“Africa is a really important region and there’s some amazing growth on the continent, particularly in the wide-format space.”
25% of exhibitors this year have increased their stand size from 2013 and 28% of exhibitors are new to the combined Fespa Africa and Africa Print event.
