The Rodial Art & Design Challenge in association with London’s renowned Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design (CSM), has resulted in a beautiful, bespoke brush case, which looks likely to sell out fast.
Second year CSM BA Product Design students were challenged to create a bespoke case for the six make-up brushes available in the Rodial range. Paul De’Ath, Course Leader BA Product Design, CSM commented, “The students had great exposure to the criteria by which a strong brand like Rodial makes decisions, and Maria’s [Maria Hatzistefanis, the founder of Rodial] network allowed the students access to industry experts such as Erin O’Connor which really boosted their confidence.”
Rodial’s judging panel – which included fashion designer Henry Holland and model Erin O’Connor – announced Hong Kong national Aaron Chung as the winner in June, and his case is now released for sale.
Aaron Chung’s design is both beautiful and practical. Made from the same black faux-leather as the Rodial compact, the case holds the six best-selling Rodial brushes in individual pouches within a wrap. A fastening incorporating the signature Rodial R folds the soft case into a secure and compact shape when travelling with your full brush kit. Clever zip detailing means that each brush pouch can be detached from the case to be used individually – perfect when you wish to carry one or two brushes for touch-ups.
The case comes packed in a display box, making it an extremely desirable gift or collectable. If you are already a devotee of Rodial brushes, you now have the perfect tool to protect them – and if you aren’t, this case could inspire you to collect them.
Aaron Chung told Glass, “It is the first time I have designed a product for women, so it was a challenge to understand the user’s wants and needs. I also had to think about Rodial’s existing branding. My favourite details in the design are the Rodial ‘R logo on the case, and the way the zips allow flexible use, satisfying form and function.” After graduation Aaron plans to continue working in design in London.
Glass asked Maria Hatzistefanis what she had gained from the Art & Design Challenge, and what qualities made Aaron Chung’s design the winning one. Maria replied, “Rodial are passionate about future creatives and young emerging talent and were delighted to associate the Art & Design Challenge with Central Saint Martins.
“It was a big learning curve to work with emerging talent. When I work with the Rodial in-house design team, the process is straight forward, as the team follow the brand guidelines that have been in place since I founded the company. With the CSM students I was more specific about the brief and the branding parameters whilst allowing the students to express their own creativity. I definitely gained a new perspective during this process and found that I learnt new ways to attend to each detail.
“Aaron’s design combined both design and functionality while being original and very modern. We have experienced substantial excitement on instagram, the beauty counter in Harvey Nichols have been inundated with requests, and we have also had calls from makeup artists who are looking to secure a case. The response has been so positive that we started a waiting list ahead of the launch date.”
The Rodial Bespoke brush case (RRP £100) is available at the Rodial Counter, Ground Floor, Harvey Nichols, SW1 and will be available online here on September 11.
Imagery of brush cases courtesy of Rodial
Photograph of Maria Hatzistefanis and Erin O’Connor credited to Greg Williams
First published on Glass September 2015
Update, August 2019
… this was the first piece I pitched to Glass. I had written about Rodial a few times on Eye of the Beholder, and liked them as a brand. I had seen an industry update on the brush case, and I was intrigued by the Central Saint Martins angle. I remember wanting to know more about the winning student, Aaron Chung, and contacting Rodial, CSM, and Aaron Chung for quotes.
One of the biggest privileges of writing is undoubtedly being able to get answers to the questions that pop into your head when you are reading something. When I was younger, I made various attempts to ‘give up’ writing and stick to proper jobs, and remember how frustrated I would become, reading print articles that left me wanting to know more, but unable to access the information. Let’s give thanks to the ‘leave comment’ option, which allows for more dialogue and direct conversation than print!
Still love print though, lol.
