AS part of Design Canberra’s coolest competition, four local designers have been selected to have their art wrapped around brand-new BMW models, unveiled yesterday (November 4) at the National Arboretum.

Originally conceived by festival partners Rolfe Classic BMW three years ago, the competition has been expanded into four categories, making it more accessible to broader parts of the community by using the cars as canvases to tell individual stories.

The winner in Category 1, “Urban Design” for university students, is Cassie Blanco, whose exterior drawing-like design for the BMW i8 Roadster incorporates Canberra’s road structures, with a nod to the roundabout. CEO and artistic director at Craft ACT Rachael Coghlan said Blanco was “one of the UC’s amazing design graduates… it’s a really important part of the future of our sector”.

In Category 2, “The Bush Capital”, for high school students, the winner is 13-year-old Toby Felton McMahon from Blue Gum community school, whose design was created by using the digital design app Procreate. Consisting of dramatic splashes of colour, it was, he told “CityNews,” inspired by the “bird poo” he noticed so often on Canberra cars.

Category 3, “Making in the City of Design,” was open to Craft ACT members with the idea of bringing creative perspectives to the cultural life of our city. The winner, Sarah Annand of Oat Studio, was influenced by architectural forms, seen in her bold dissected shapes of building facades.

Jodie Cunningham, the winner in the Open Category 4, “Canberra Icons”, arrived at the Arboretum dressed in lime green and pink to match her colourful design, “Canberra Futures – Turn Around”, which she describes as “a symbolic ‘luck charm’ for the Canberra community”. She said it had been quite challenging to design for a three-dimensional object like a car.

Cunningham said, “The symbol of the pinwheel represents both turning our luck around and the spinning blades of a wind turbine, while the hexagon, flower and drop shapes are traced from the Griffins’ 1911 plans for Canberra”.

Blanco, Cunningham and Annand each receive a $250 cash prize, a BMW for the weekend and a dinner for two.

Toby Felton McMahon receives a $250 cash prize and a BMW for the weekend (presumably to be driven by an adult), a $50 gift voucher and other prizes.

The four BMWs, now “wrapped” by Canberra signage company Rojo Customs, will be exhibited at signature events during DESIGN Canberra from November 9-29. Details at designcanberrafestival.com.au