Clermont-de-l’Oise, France — Some of the world’s top automotive painters will descend on Clermont-de-l’Oise, France in late June to sort out who will take the top prize at the thirteenth International R-M Best Painter Contest Final.
The competition will see ten national finalists square off at the R-M Refinish Competence Center in France from June 28 to 30, in the first edition of the competition since 2016.
This year’s theme is “Driving digital competency and eco-effective solutions” and will see painters making use of R-M’s ONYX HD waterborne paint line, premium clearcoats and the company’s state-of-the-art digital color matching technology; the Colortronic 12/6.
Participants will also get to use R-M Refinity, a cloud-based painter support platform.
Competitors will be vying for two awards this time around: the International R-M Best Painter Award, recognizing technical skills and creativity; and the new Pioneers Award, created to support social and sustainable attributes.
The award recipients will be chosen by a jury of R-M global technical and marketing experts.
“The International Best Painter Contest is R-M’s premium flagship event, designed to develop and nurture young talents on a global platform to ensure the sustainable future of skills in the refinish coatings industry. More than ever before, R-M emphasizes the importance of creativity, digitalization and sustainability to ensure this next generation of painters is equipped with the right combination of skills to create a pipeline of talent for our customers and for the industry to thrive,” said Fabien Boschetti, director of global marketing and automotive refinish coatings solutions at BASF, R-M’s parent company.
R-M’s national competitions saw 13 painters reach the top of the pile in their country, but unfortunately due to “pandemic and travel challenges,” ten painters from Belgium, France, Italy, Poland, Morocco, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Japan and the U.S. will be making it to the international stage.
The event will be livestreamed on R-M’s social media channels.
