BASF Presents Winner of 2016 Fight Club of Automotive Design
Omar Gonzalez won the 2016 Middlecott Sketchbattle Experiment, Detroit’s first-ever “Fight Club of Design."
2016 Sketchbattle winner, Omar Gonzalez, with his championship belt.
Omar Gonzalez won the 2016 Middlecott Sketchbattle Experiment, presented by BASF. Introduced in 2012, the experiment is Detroit’s first-ever “Fight Club of Design,” an underground automotive industry event developed to identify emerging design talent.
The event coincides with the Detroit Auto Show, and is an automotive sketching competition where contestants battle for the championship. Fourteen contestants competed under pressure, in front of an audience in a timed, three-round boxing themed setting.
“Sketchbattle is an amazing event that enables emerging industry talent to shine. These artists and designers are the future of the automotive industry,” said Paul Czornij, Technical Manager for the BASF Color Excellence Group and Sketchbattle judge.
“It was one of the coolest experiences I’ve ever had, and I was extremely impressed by the audience and judges. It was a pleasure to sketch live for all of them. Middlecott Sketchbattle is a great platform for young designers to make connections inside the automotive industry,” said Gonzalez, a native of Mexico who recently graduated from Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon (UANL) in Monterrey, Mexico in the Industrial Design program.
To add interest to the competition, sketchers incorporated colors developed by the BASF automotive color excellence group to celebrate the company’s 150 anniversary in 2015. Four colors were developed – one for each of BASF’s global regions – Arjean Silver for North America, Nightfall Blue for South America, Solaric Green for Europe and Fresh Mint for Asia-Pacific. A different color was used for each round of the competition.
“The use of BASF colors in this year’s competition presented the contestants with a unique design opportunity to convey their dreams in color in 30 minutes or less,” said Frank Schwartz, Co-owner and Partner, Middlecott Sketchbattle. “The anniversary colors brought the designer’s passions to the forefront, and the judges had a very difficult time choosing a winner, although Omar’s consistency throughout the evening helped bring him the award.”
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The 14 design competitors sketch at a table surrounded by hundreds of onlookers during the 2016 Middlecott Sketchbattle presented by BASF.
Omar Gonzalez’s first round sketch featuring BASF Nightfall Blue, 150 anniversary color from South America.
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