what is good design? you decide!
2010 People’s Design Awards. Voting closes October 12 at 6pm EST. On October 14 at 9pm EST, the winner will be announced live at the National Design Awards gala in New York City. Celebrate National Design Week October 9-17 with free admission to Cooper-Hewitt all week long!
what these chairs may lack in comfort they make up for in style.
The aptly named Magica (black) and Magica2 (white) play on the illusion created by the plexiglass base that make is seem as if the chairs really only sit on two legs. The tromp l’oeil won Italian designer Davide Conti first place in Furniture Design at Design Quest’s competition in Grand Rapids, MI this past March.
designer: david conti
producer: awaiting production
material: plexiglass
(Images are from the cooper hewitt national design awards)
above: Tupperware Flatout! from frog design, one of three winners for Product Design
above: Stephen Doyle, winner for Communication Design
above: Lisa Strausfeld’s One Laptop per Child
With the National Design Awards in the recent past and London Design Week in the near future, competition is at the forefront of the design world. A little friendly competition never hurt anyone, but in a recent piece at Core77, Apple VP Don Norman argues that design contests are flat out bad for design.
The position he takes is this: Because jurors often have to rate designs based on drawings, photographs and videos accompanied by text instead of the physical product (either because it hasn’t been made yet or, in the case of something like a car or bed, it’s physically impractical). “As a result,” Norman says, “jurors cannot experience them in use, they can’t watch the intended audience use them, they can’t assess how well they provide for graceful interaction, what pleasure or pain they provide, what benefits they provide. “If design contests reward styling alone and ignore the most important, but hardest parts: interaction, experience, truly meeting needs, and even economic success, they “perpetuate the myth that industrial design is primarily about style and that brilliant styling leads to success in the marketplace. Both statements are false.”
He suggests that all entries should be accompanied by an “evaluation performed by an independent testing group that evaluates its functionality, usability, durability, and market impact,” and that judges be made familiar with the constraints and expectations of each category and be required to serve on a panel for more several years. “I recommend rolling three-year terms, with 1/3 of the jurors appointed each year. Each jurors would have one year to learn the ropes, one year to practice what had been learned, and a final year both to practice and to mentor newer jurors. ”
Resources:
cooper hewitt national design awards
core77
the uk architecture firm groves-raines recently snagged first place in craftsmanship at the annual aia excellence in design award for their innovative use of re-bar in a compost shed in edinburgh.
With all the other awards this year going to large-scale projects, it’s important to highlight the smaller but important contributions to design.
The bending, sinewy lines of the rusted metal cords look elegant, calling to mind Richard Serra’s undulating marvels of bent steel. Let’s not overlook the hidden beauty the firm discovered in a material that usually plays a hidden role, and how they turned something that’s all about function into something that’s all about form.
[aia 2010 excellence in design winners]designer: groves-raines
zoe miller and david goodman, the UK-based toy designers, got their start making children’s books exclusively for the tate gallery.
They made Color and Shape following the success of their 2004 debut, A is for Artist and two years ago they made their foray into children’s toys with the award-winning Shapemaker, a take on those old wooden block puzzles you may have played with as a child. The design improvements abound, with shapes hand-printed onto “environmentally friendly hardwood blocks made of rubber wood – a replenishable wood,” quite a step up from the block puzzles of my childhood, which were pasted on all sides with squares of paper that would inevitably come unglued after hours of continuous play. The Shapemaker, which boasts a seemingly endless array of puzzle combinations may be intended for preschoolers, but its aesthetic and tactile qualities appeal to kids of all ages.
Designer: millergoodman
about perrin drumm
james beard 2010. and the nominees are…
The design world’s oscars”
icon magazine
the jury: british artist antony gormley will chair the jury which includes designer tom dixon, justin mcguirk, editor of icon magazine, graphic designer morag myerscough, style editor of grazia magazine paula reed and david rowan, editor of UK wired magazine, and writer and broadcaster janet street-porter.
the jury’s judging criteria: to select ‘work that reflects issues raised by one or more of the concerns of the current debate on design; to consider the responsiveness of the design to the social, cultural and economic landscape as well as environmental issues; and to assess the degree to which the project has fulfilled the expectations of users and clients’.
2010 best of show:
british student, min-kyu choi from london, has won the brit insurance design of the year 2010, for his elegant reinterpretation of the humble electrical plug, beating over 90 international nominees in the process. jury chair, antony gormley, presented him with the award at a gala dinner held at the design museum.
antony gormley comments ‘thought-through, responsive and modest, the folding plug shows how intelligent, elegant and inventive design can make a difference to everyone’s life.’
min-kyu choi’s inspiration came from having to carry around the world’s largest plug (uk pin plug) with the macbook air, the world’s thinnest laptop. In creating a plug which could fold flat for easy transportation, choi received much praise on showcasing the plug at the royal college of art’s graduate show in 2009, with a brilliant and seemingly obvious improvement to a product that had changed little since its inception in 1946.
deyan sudjic, director of the design museum comments ‘it’s great to see such a practical but elegant demonstration of what design can do to make everyday life so much better. min-kyu choi is a designer just setting out on his career and he clearly has a great future ahead of him.’
the folding plug and all of this year’s shortlisted designs are on show at the design museum, due to the overwhelming demand the exhibition has been extended and will now run through to 31 october.
The winners below, and below that the shortlist.
*****
seven category winners
architecture: monterrey housing — mexico
elemental — chile
fashion: alexander mcqueen
spring/summer ’10 and spring/summer catwalk presentation — plato’s atlantis, uk
furniture: grassworks
by jair straschnow — netherlands
graphics: the newspaper club, uk
created by ben terrett, russell davies and ton taylor and supported by 4iP
interactive: the eyewriter
by members of free art and technology, openframeworks, graffiti research la, the ebeling group and tony quan — usa
product: folding plug
by min-kyu choi — uk
transport: E430 electric aircraft
by yuneec international — china
*****
2010 brit insurance design awards shortlist
the 2010 shortlist of about a hundred nominees.
architecture ( below )
porchdog house prototype, biloxi, mississippi —usa — marlon blackwell architects;
brandhorst museum, munich, germany – matthias sauerbruch, louisa hutton and juan lucas young for sauerbruch hutton;
british embassy, warsaw, poland – tony fretton architects;
high line park, new york, usa – james corner field operations and diller scofidio + renfro;
hutong bubble 32, beijing, china – ma yansong and dang qun, MAD architects;
maxxi, national museum of the XXI century arts, rome, italy – zaha hadid architects;
melbourne recital centre and mtc theatre project, melbourne, australia – ashton raggatt mcdougall;
monterrey housing, mexico – elemental s.a., chile;
neues museum, berlin, germany – david chipperfield architects and julian harrap architects;
ningbo historic museum, ningbo, china – wang shu and lu wenyu, amateur architecture studio;
raven row, london, uk – 6A architects;
tea, tenerife espacio de las artes, canary islands, spain – herzog & de meuron;
youl hwa dang book hall, paju book city, south korea – architecture research unit (aru);
london metropolitan university with network in architecture (nia), seoul.
fashion ( below )
hats: an anthology by stephen jones, v&a museum, london, curated by stephen jones and oriole cullen, UK;
accessories and artefacts: women’s lives in paris 1940-1944 exhibition, curated by the musée galliera and the memorial-musée, designed by jean-jacques raynaud, graphics by CL design, france;
alexander mcqueen spring/summer ’10 and spring/summer ’10 catwalk presentation, france;
beth ditto at evans, (beth ditto and lisa marie peacock) UK;
boudicca spring/summer ’10 real girl lookbook, UK;
christopher kane spring/summer ’09, UK;
goggle jacket ‘989–‘009, by aitor throup for C.P. company, UK;
madeleine vionnet, puriste de la mode exhibition, musée mode et du textile, paris, curated by pamela golbin, designed by andrée putman, france.
furniture ( below )
360° work chair — germany — konstantin grcic;
breathe furniture, australia – helen kontouris;
carbon fibre chair, japan – shigeru ban architects;
extrusions, uk – thomas heatherwick studio;
grassworks, netherlands – jair straschnow;
houdini armrest chair, germany – stefan diez;
palindrome series, uk – peter marigold;
pallet furniture, uk – nina tolstrup, studiomama;
parcs, uk – pearsonlloyd;
polytopia, australia – lucas chirnside;
repair project, lisbon, portugal – linda brothwell;
setu office chair, germany – studio 7.5.
graphics ( below )
cafe of equivalent$ — uk — kennardphillipps;
032c magazine, germany – art direction by mike meiré;
altermodern: TATE triennial catalogue and poster design, uk – m/m (paris);
corporate diversity, swiss graphic design and advertising by geigy 1940-1970, switzerland;
norm, edited by andres janser and barbara junod;
daily visual column for de volkskrant, netherlands – gorilla;
it’s nice that, uk – will hudson and alex bec;
pig 05049, netherlands – christien meindertsma;
russian criminal tattoo encyclopaedia volume III, uk – fuel design and publishing;
the happy hypocrite, uk – a practice for everyday life;
the indian type foundry, india – peter bilak and satya rajpurohit;
the newspaper club, uk – ben terrett;
the new yorker, 2 nov 2009 edition, usa – chris ware;
trillion dollar campaign, zimbabwe – tbwahuntlascaris, south africa for the zimbabwean newspaper;
typographic trees, crawley library, uk – gordon young and why not associates;
voltaic: songs from the volta tour – m/m (paris) for björk;
war memorial, uk – harry pearce for the science museum, london;
yes, uk – farrow design for the pet shop boys.
interactive ( below )
bbc iplayer — uk — bbc;
bloom, uk – brian eno and peter chilvers;
graffiti taxonomy: paris, france – evan roth;
kindle 2, usa – amazon.com;
l-e-d-led-l-ed, japan – dilight;
onedotzero festival identity, uk – karsten schmidt and wieden + kennedy london;
openframeworks, usa – zach lieberman, theodore watson, arturo castro and the of community;
pachube, uk – usman haque, sam mulube and christopher burman;
panda eyes, uk – jason bruges studio for wwf;
the eyewriter, usa – developed by members of free art and technology (f.a.t), openframeworks, graffiti research lab, the ebeling group and tony quan;
the incidental, milan and london design festival, italy and uk – concept and creative direction by daniel charny, from now on;
ycn library, uk – young creative network.
product ( below )
sugru, uk – jane ni dhulchaointigh;
beehaus, uk – omlet;
blown-fabric lanterns, japan – nendo;
case abyss, norway – abyssus marine services for seabed geophysical;
clouds, denmark – ronan and erwan bouroullec for kvadrat;
design and democracy: blanke ark, norway – blueroom, innovativoli and kadabra;
folding plug, uk – min-kyu choi;
hope chandelier, italy – francisco gomez paz and paolo rizzatto for luceplan;
kyoto box, kenya – jon bohmer of kyoto;
l’eau d’issey ettore sottsass edition, france – issey miyake;
pact underwear, usa – yves béhar;
plantlock, uk – front yard company;
real time, netherlands – maarten bass;
samsung n310 mini notebook, japan – naoto fukasawa;
ski helmet for girls, norway – per finne industrial design for kari traa;
soma, tel aviv, israel – ayala serfaty;
the idea of a tree, austria – katherine mischer & thomas traxler;
the story of stuff, usa – annie leonard;
worldmade sport wheelchair, uk – david constantine.
transport ( below )
gina light visionary model — germany – bmw;
e430 electric aircraft, china – yuneec international;
gocycle, uk – karbon kinetics ltd.;
honda ev-n concept, japan – kanna sumiyoshi;
land glider, japan – nissan motor co. ltd.;
mission one superbike, usa – yves béhar for mission motors;
urbikes, fourth generation urban bicycle, spain – eduard sentís.
from this comprehensive list, the jury selected the seven category winners on march 4th, 2010. on march 16 the overall brit insurance design of the year 2010 winner. last year’s winner was the poster ‘hope’, designed by shepard fairey for barack obama’s presidential campaign.
evolo magazine‘s winners of the 2010 skyscraper competition. since 2006, the annual skyscraper competition recognizes outstanding ideas that redefine skyscraper design through the use of new technologies, materials, programs, aesthetics, and spatial organization. the award seeks to discover young talents whose ideas will change the way we understand architecture and its relationship with the natural and built environments.
above: first place. a project for a vertical prison examines the possibility of creating a prison-city in the sky, where the inmates would live in a “free” and productive community with agricultural fields and factories that would support the host city below. globalization, sustainability, flexibility, adaptability, and the digital revolution, were some of the multi-layered elements taken into consideration. the designers are architecture students chow khoon toong, ong tien yee, and beh ssi cze, from malaysia.
above: second place. the project is the ‘ciliwung recovery program’ which aims to purify and repair the ciliwung river habitat. the building is designed as an ingenious habitable machine that would collect garbage, purify water, and provide housing to thousands of people that live in the slums along the river. the designers are rezza rahdian, erwin setiawan, ayu diah shanti, and leonardus chrisnantyo, from indonesia.
above: third place. the project ‘nested skyscraper’ explores robotic construction techniques for a structure of carbon sleeves and fiber-laced concrete. the building is a system of multiple layers of composite louvers which thicken and rotate according to solar exposure, ventilation, and materials performance. the designers are ryohei koike and jarod poenisch, from the united states.
the 2010 jury: mario cipresso, kyu ho chun, kenta fukunishi, elie gamburg, mitchell joachim, jaeyoung lee, adelaïde marchi, nicola marchi and eric vergne. the Jury selected 3 winners and 27 special mentions among 430 entries from 42 countries.
The 2010 Automotive Executive of the Year Innovator Award will be presented to Elon Musk, Chairman, Product Architect and CEO for Tesla Motors. Tesla to host an event at the Geneva Motor Show. via prweb [RK]
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