The designs for Langhorne Carpet Company’s new Eco Line will be the product of the mill’s first Morrow Design Competition (MDC) featuring students from 10 leading design programs. A portion of sales will benefit conservation organizations, according to Bill Morrow, Langhorne’s president, and the fourth-generation mill owner-operator.

Student-designers working in school teams will create two designs, in multiple color combinations, for Langhorne’s Jacquard Wilton broadloom. Their submissions will be judged next spring by a panel of leading design and marketing professionals, including New York-based designer Alex Papachristidis. Excited about the competition, Papachristidis attended Parsons School of Design and has his own line of Langhorne carpet.

“This will be to the world of carpet design what Project Runway has been to fashion, but exclusively for students,” said Papachristidis. “Young American designers are not given nearly enough credit for their creativity and energy, and this competition will be a great showcase of their work for a great cause.”

Bill Morrow, whose historic family business will manufacture the winning designs and include them in their running lines, explained that the competing students’ teams are being asked to draw their inspiration from the plant and animal kingdoms. Besides awarding MDC cash prizes to the winners and second and third-place finishers, Langhorne will provide a portion of the sales’ proceeds to non-profit conservation organizations, including the Philadelphia Zoo, America’s first zoo, and the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, sponsor of the Philadelphia Flower Show. The student-designers will be invited to tour and sketch at both the Zoo and the Flower Show as part of their research.

“We enjoy working with the school design programs in the region and this competition is a way of building upon those relationships, helping the talented students and our fragile environment,” said Morrow. “It is the ultimate win-win.”

Participants for the competition will represent the following schools: Philadelphia University, Temple University, University of the Arts, Penn State University, Art Institute of Philadelphia, Moore College of Art and Design, Drexel University, Arcadia University, University of Delaware and Rider University.

http://www.langhornecarpets.com/