The Handicraft and Wood Industry Association of HCM City gives away first prizes to winners of the 2019-20 Hoa Mai furniture design contest in HCM City on March 12. — VNS Photo

HCM CITY — Nguyễn Hòa, and a two-member team, Vũ Thành Nam and Nguyễn Khánh Linh, have won first prizes in the 2019-20 Hoa Mai furniture design competition, the former for his art work Cham Shelf and the latter for Bèo chair set, the organisers announced on March 12.

Each received a prize of VNĐ30 million (US$1,291).

Võ Ngọc Nguyên and Quách Minh Quân won second prizes and VNĐ20,000,000 ($816.5) each for a dining table and chair they designed.

Lê Long Vĩnh and Huỳnh Thanh Quyền won a special prize, presented for the first time in the annual competition, for their Floating Market Bench inspired by floating markets in the Mekong Delta. They too won VNĐ30 million.

Floating Market Bench inspired by floating markets in the Mekong Delta wins the special prize at the 2019-20 Hoa Mai furniture design contest. — VNS Photo

The Handicraft and Wood Industry Association of HCM City (Hawa), the organisers, also awarded five consolation prizes.

The 17th edition of the competition attracted 331 entries.

Assessing the quality of the entries this year, Nguyễn Quốc Khanh, chairman of HAWA and head of the jury, said: “The works this time are of similar quality and represent breakthroughs in practicability and commercial viability.”

They were judged for appearance, ideas and ability to be produced on a large scale, he said.

Many products entered this year could appear in the market, he predicted.

At the awards ceremony, some furniture companies bought copyrights for many of the designs to produce them.

All 23 works that entered the final are on display at C-Space Connecting Point in District 7 until March 20 and Showroom Hand Pick in District 2 from March 20 to April 15 for the public and businesses to see.

The furniture industry targets sales of US$20 billion by 2025 and move from doing mainly sub-contract work to original design.

To achieve that goal, improving value addition on wooden products is imperative. Increasing investment in product design will help the industry shift from manufacturing furniture based on designs provided by buyers to original design manufacturing, resulting in greater revenues. — VNS