Parmigiano Reggiano^® Announces Design Challenge Call for Entries

For its second year in a row, Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium is teaming up with design brands Kartell and Alessi for its Parmigiano Reggiano^® Design Challenge. Through the competition, the trio is calling on designers to create innovative product concepts that accentuate the values of the Parmigiano Reggiano brand.

The 2022 Parmigiano Reggiano Design Challenge looks to explore the intersection of food and design, a press release explained. Inspiration for the competition comes in the form of dishes prepared by James Beard award-winning chef Michael Nishchan in addition to Chef Michele Casadei Massari, the United States Brand Ambassador for Parmigiano Reggiano and Executive Chef at Lucciola in New York.

Each competition entry will be evaluated on how well the product concept embodies the key ideas incorporated into the recipes and are considered important differentiating values for the Parmigiano Reggiano brand. The three category principles the consortium wants to include are:

• Diversity: The unique flavor profile of each wheel of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese is partly due to the fact that the milk used to make the cheese comes from different parts of the Area of Origin with different elevations and diverse breeds of cows; the cheese changes also depending on the time of the year in which it was produced
• Zero Waste: As champions of Zero Waste principles, designers will be challenged to consider the environmental impact of the product concepts that they will submit
• Aging: Parmigiano Reggiano cheese must be matured a minimum of 12 months and can be aged up to 24 to 36 months and even longer. Aging contributes to the variety in taste, aroma, and texture of the cheese

Judges for the competition include renowned names from the design industry including Mauro Porcini, Karim Rashid, Alessia Genova, and Fabio Novembre. The panel also includes last year’s winner of Best in Show Award, Qing Yan as well as Chef Michele Casadei Massari and Chef Michel Nischan who will provide a culinary perspective in the evaluation process.

Gold, silver, and bronze winners from each of the three categories will be selected, and a Best in Show winner will also be chosen.

The call for entries is now open through May 6.

To read more about the competition, click here.

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