Bompas & Parr is looking for creatives to rethink hand sanitiser

Bompas & Parr, the brilliantly bizarre London-based studio, has launched a hand sanitiser pump design competition in support of The British Red Cross. Inviting designers, makers and architects to take part, the competition, Fountain of Hygiene, is asking creatives for their “inspired takes on the sanitiser pumps now on counters across the globe.”

With repeated hand washing a key piece of advice and with more than 100 countries now affected by Covid-19, Fountain of Hygiene “seeks to explore the aesthetic, functional, social, gestural and experiential possibilities of enhanced hygiene,” says Bompas & Parr. The results are then planned to go on display at the Design Museum (“an online display will be developed in parallel as an alternative if a real-world display is not recommended”), before being auctioned by Christie’s to raise money for The British Red Cross.

Tim Marlow, the Design Museum’s chief executive and director at the Design Museum adds: “Design has an important role in helping to solve many of the challenges that we face in daily life including some of those raised by the recent Covid-19 outbreak. We hope that the shortlisted entries of the Sanitiser Design Competition will demonstrate the importance of research and innovative thinking.” The overall aim of the competition, therefore, is to “encourage use of sanitising alcohol gels in both the public and domestic realms,” and distinguish the act of hand hygiene as “new behavioural norms which benefit the ongoing health of global society,” via creativity.

Creatives can submit their concepts via an open call ahead of a deadline on 29 March. According to Bompas & Parr, “participants are free to choose to design or enhance sanitiser pumps, sprays, wipes, dispense units or even gestures and rituals,” within their submissions.

Entries should be sent to sanitiser@bompasandparr.com and in a PDF format, also including details and images of proposals, either as drawings or digital renders. All entries are limited to one side of an A3 page.

The entries will then be shortlisted ahead of the IRL or digital Design Museum show, held between 9 April and 7 May.