An emotive image painted entirely out of coffee has earned two CPUT Graphic Design students the top prize in a national art competition.
The Nestle Art Competition challenged learners from primary school into tertiary institutions to create a unique artwork that celebrates the company’s 100 year anniversary in Africa.
CPUT students leaped at the opportunity and came up with everything from Andy Warhol inspired images of company founder Henry Nestle to depictions of how the company has helped small business flourish.
In the end six CPUT Graphic Design students were invited to the finals in Johannesburg and second year students Kyron Damon Green and Natalie Gendron won the R50 000 prize in their category.
CONGRATULATIONS: Six students from CPUT made it into the finals of the Nestle Art Competition
Kyron says the judges seemed pleasantly surprised that the image, measuring 1m by 1 m on paper, was created using Ricoffee.
“We did one version first and then when we saw that the idea could work we perfected it in a final version,” he says.
His design partner Natalie says they wanted to communicate that Ricoffy is so much more than just coffee.
“After brainstorming, we decided that what better way was there to express this concept than to use actual Ricoffy as the medium for the painting. We added coffee cup stains around the page to enhance the effect of the coffee,” she says.
Lecturer Edwin Peacock says the students fitted the winning work in and amongst a loaded project schedule.
“They were given this brief while they were busy with other stuff which makes this win even more special,” he says.
