Virgin Atlantic today showcased one of the most interesting and unorthodox design competitions in recent years on its inaugural flight from Hong Kong to Sydney.  In collaboration with multimedia designer Oz Dean of forcefeed:swede, the airline will be introducing 20 limited edition sickbags designed by artists from around the globe.  The designs feature an array of concepts, original characters and themes.Oz Dean started the ‘Design for Chunks’ project four years ago inviting talented designers to produce artwork for sick bags and submit them to the ‘Design for Chunks’ annual competition.  Over the four years the competition has been running online it has achieved cult status amongst the design community.

Lysette Gauna, Head of Media for Virgin Atlantic, commented,

“We felt that the ubiquitous sickbag was long overdue a makeover and when we came across ‘Design for Chunks’ it was the perfect opportunity.  Sickbags are a mandatory requirement but rarely get used - so we thought we would brighten them up and turn them into a talking point!

“We’re really excited about bringing art from around the world to such a huge number of people via our sickbags.  It’s a first in the industry and we’re sure these bags will soon become collectors’ items.”

Oz Dean, Founder of forcefeed:swede said of the partnership,

“Virgin Atlantic deserves huge praise for recognising the value of these kinds of creative forums.  With this project we have combined an alternative medium with an established online art exhibition, creating a gallery in the sky.”

The top 20 artworks have been selected from over 600 entries that were judged on 8 October and will be printed and distributed on all Virgin Atlantic flights for six months with a potential audience of over 2 million passengers. 

The competition received interest from all around the globe with the 20 winning entries coming from the US, France, Hong Kong, Canada, Italy, Germany, Australia, the Netherlands, Japan, Australia and the UK.

The panel of judges were selected from the marketing and design agencies that work with Virgin Atlantic on a regular basis.  In addition to input from Virgin Atlantic and forcefeed:swede, there was representation from Rainey Kelley (UK), Start (UK) and CP&B (USA).
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