AGENT has been included in the Top Design Studios International Ranking of  by the Red Dot Institute (in the Design Concepts category). As mentioned by Red Dot, one of the most prestigious institutions of the industry, this ranking is a mark of great achievement in the area of design innovation.

> See the full list here (PDF)

AGENT was selected as Finalist at the prestigious IDEA 2012 Awards.
More details will be unveiled soon…

> Read about IDEA Awards here

AGENT was recognized as Finalist at the DSM e-nnovation Contest for the CTRUS project. The challenge, which was launched in 2011, invited creative thinkers and designers interested in sports to submit ideas for equipment innovations that could make a difference in any sport. The specified material for the designs was Arnitel^® Eco, a bio-based thermoplastic copolyester. 

> Read more here

CTRUS soccer ball and other pieces by Alberto Villarreal will be exhibited at
“DISEÑO MEXICO – LOS CONTEMPORÁNEOS”, an exhibition organized by the Government’s Economy Ministry (Secretaría de Economía), in Mexico City during May & June 2012.

AGENT took part at the Milan Design Week 2012 with the project CTRUS football, which was shortlisted as a finalist at the Well Tech Award 2012 and is included in the WT-Award exhibition.

The Award Ceremony and Cocktail Party were held on April 18th at the Palazzo Isimbardi in Corso Monforte, in the Historic Center of Milan, as part of this year’s Milan Design Week activities. The finalist projects were exhibited all week at the venue.

> Read more here

EOS México, a Guadalajara-based design firm founded by brothers Mauricio and Sebastian Lara, recently presented a book showing 10-years of their work, published by Arquine publishing house.

While printing the books, the first batch went wrong, so the publishing house ended up with several hundreds of (somehow) useless books. The Lara brothers turned this “error” into a design opportunity and invited 11 designers/firms to create objects using the books as a raw material, and gave 6 to 10 books to each invitee.

Alberto Villarreal and his team at AGENT, started brainstorming about what to do with the books they got. Roughed out several ideas and ended up designing a skateboard made out of paper mixed with resin.

AGENT saw this as an opportunity to experiment with materials and applied a non-linear “A to B” process for the design.

The fact that the book itself has so much color in the pages encouraged the team to play up the graphic content, and after experimenting with the paper (cutting, folding, weaving, mixing), and analyzing its properties, a new creative path was taken.

In this video interview Alberto Villarreal talks about the design process.

The full list of invited designers included:
Alberto Villarreal / AGENT, Ariel Rojo, Cecilia León de la Barra, Emiliano Godoy, Héctor Esrawe, Jorge Moreno, Marcela Compeán, Mariano García, Ricardo Casas, Giovanni Estrada, José Alfredo Silva.

The pieces were exhibited at the Comex showroom in Polanco, Mexico City.

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PROJECT CREDITS:

Creative Direction: Alberto Villarreal
Design Team: Isaac Smeke, Tom Pelzer, Felipe Castañeda
Prototype Manufacturing: AGENT & Manolo Serranía.
Photos: Isaac Smeke, Alberto Villarreal

Invited by EOS México, AGENT developed a skateboard made out of recycled paper from a wrongly-printed batch of the Lara brothers retrospective book.

> Read More Here

AGENT’s Michel Rojkind and Alberto Villarreal have been listed as some of the most Successful Mexican Entrepreneurs in 2011, by Milenio Press Group, along with other creative leaders including chefs, fashion designers, technologists, and marketing wizards.

> Read full interviews here (in Spanish).

Photo: Milenio