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Monday, 18 December 2006 | Levent OZLER
Hundreds of Designers and Manufactures Awarded Good Design
Thousands of industrial designers and business leaders in industry and manufacturing from around the world-from Istanbul to Singapore-vied in Chicago and New York for the world's oldest and most coveted prize for GOOD DESIGN, which is awarded annually by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design.
Founded in Chicago in 1950 by architects Eero Saarinen, Charles and Ray Eames, and Edgar Kaufmann, Jr., the GOOD DESIGN Awards bestow international recognition upon the world's most prominent designers and manufacturers for advancing new, visionary, and innovative product concepts, invention and originality, and for stretching the envelope beyond what is considered basic product and consumer design.
This year, the world's most visionary companies are awarded: 3M Company, adidas AG., Apple Computer, Inc., BMW, AG., Boeing Corporation, The Bosch Group, Bose Corporation, Eastman Kodak Company, Electrolux Major Appliances, Fila Europe SpA., Gaggenau Industrie, Grohe AG., Hamilton Beach Proetor Silex, Hansgrohe, Harman Kardon Group, Herman Miller, Inc., Hitachi, Knoll, Inc., Hewlett-Packard Company, Maytag Corporation, Mannington Commercial, Medlogic Global Ltd., Melitta, Microsoft Corporation, Miele, Mitsubishi Motors Corporation, NASA, Novo Nordisk A/S, Olympus Corporation, OXO International, Panaosanic Corporation, Rosenthal AG., Thermador Appliances, Siemens AG., Samsonite Ltd., Sun Microsystems, Villeroy & Boch AG., Whirlpool Corporation, and Yamaha Corporation.
The National Aeronautics Space Administration's latest designs for NASA's new Constellation Program: Cargo Launch & Crew Launch Rockets and NASA's Lunar Lander QTYR, designed in 2004 not but readied for lift-off until 2014, were cited by the jury and the Museum as exemplifying the global significance of the GOOD DESIGN Awards Program for recognizing the most cutting-edge new design, innovation, and technology that will shape our future world.
The annual GOOD DESIGN Awards Program is organized and curated by Christian K. Narkiewicz-Laine, Museum President, The Chicago Athenaeum.
For 2006, the Museum received a record number of submissions from six continents for everything from a new Boeing 777 interior to a pencil sharpener by the foremost designers and manufacturers from a total of over 30 countries.
Awarded categories include the latest design innovation in electronics, medical equipment, transportation, furniture, textiles, industrial machinery, public environment, hardware, tools, bath and accessories, kitchen/appliances, floor covering, tabletop, household products, personal, office products, children's products, sports and recreation, lighting, and graphics- anything and everything from a "city to a spoon."
This year, GOOD DESIGN publicly acknowledges and elevates the best and finest new design and design innovation for products and graphics designed and/or manufactured between 2004 and 2006.
The largest object to receive a 2006 GOOD DESIGN Award is the Toyama Light Rail in the City of Toyama, Japan designed by G. K. Design Group of Toyko, Japan. British designer, Ross Lovegrove of Studio X, is awarded for an entire bathroom called, "Istanbul." Some of the smaller-scaled, high-designed objects awarded include Tupperware's Bake 2 Basics Measuring Jug by Belgium designer Jan-Hendrik de Groote and the Abacus Smart Watch designed by BMW Group DesignworksUSA for Microsoft Corporation.
"The criteria for award selection follows the original, historic GOOD DESIGN program set forth in 1950, formulated by Saarinen and Eames, which is based on function and aesthetic, but with a contemporary emphasis for environmental concerns and Green Design," states Narkiewicz-Laine.
For 2006, The GOOD DESIGN Awards were judged in New York last November by an international jury of design professionals, experts, and cultural leaders. In the past, GOOD DESIGN juries have been held in Reykjavik, Iceland, Mexico City, Mexico, Helsinki, Finland, Barcelona, Spain, and Milan, Italy.
The 2006 Jury included: Claudia Fischer, Deputy Cultural Attaché, Consulate of Switzerland, New York; Dan Formosa, Smart Design, New York; Amelie Heinsjö, Counselor for Press and Cultural Affairs, Consulate General of Sweden, New York; Juulia Kauste, Finnish Foundation for the Visual Arts, Helsinki and New York; Jiro Okuyama, Deputy Consul General, Japan Information Center, New York; Nancy Perkins, IDSA, Perkins Design Ltd., Murfreeboro, TN, Masamichi Udagawa, Antenna Design New York Inc., New York; and Lella Vignelli, Vignelli Design, New York. The program was coordinated by Lary L. Sommers of The Chicago Athenaeum and Kieran Conlon of Dublin, Ireland.
The jury selected over 250 products and graphic designs for 2006.
"The 2006 jury was most interested in and responsive to designs for social good and for environmental concerns." states Ioannis Karalias, Museum Vice President, The Chicago Athenaeum. "The $100 Laptop for kids, designed by Swiss industrial designer, Yves Béhar and Martin Schnitzer of fuseproject in San Francisco, a project that was initated by Nicholas Negroponte, Chairman of MIT, is destined to create a computer revolution for children around the world.
"Other companies are simply synonymous with GOOD DESIGN," adds Karalias. "Eastman Kodak won four awards for a photo printer and digital cameras. Apple Computer, Inc. swept up 10 awards for products ranging from the new MacBook to the iPod Hi-Fi and the Mighty Mouse-designs led by Apple Computer's advant-garde British designer, Jonathan Ives."
Smart Technology plus High Design also garnered many 2006 GOOD DESIGN Awards. The Brizo Pascal Culinary Faucet by Delta Faucet Company can discriminate between taps (momentary touches) and grabs through timing when its unique sensors determine if and when a part of the human body touches a part of the faucet. Miele's S5000 Vacuum Cleaner is fitted with a unique sound dampering feature that allows the vacuum to powerfully perform its cleaning functions in virtual silence. New tactile sensors by Berker GmbH & Co. KG feature improved easy-to-operate touch-sensors as they enhance appliances and radiate clarity and function. Harman Kardon's HS 100 Integrated Home Theater System is not only high art for is superb, seamless technology, but is equally striking for its sleek, minimalist lines.
Italy leads the number of GOOD DESIGN awards for new furniture and lighting design; the United States for innovative electronics; and Germany and Denmark for tabletop, high-tech, and household appliances and household items. A design that has held its integrity and bold freshness is Bose Wave Music System-the famed, decade's old design re-entered here and awarded again for its superior modifications. Italy and Turkey astonished the jury for their outstanding electronics submissions: the Grand Cinema HTL 40 LCD Television, designed by SIM2 Multimedia in Pordenone, Italy and the BEKO Series L 26" LCD TV, designed by Beko Elektronik A.S., in Istanbul.
"Awarded 2006 designs from Lisbon, Brussels, Singapore, Bangkok, Shanghai, Taiwan, Dublin, Bacelona, Helsinki, Warsaw, Stuttgart, Moscow, Vienna, Stockholm, Tel Aviv, and Athens signify that GOOD DESIGN-for the first time in human history-is a worldwide phenomenon," states Narkiewicz-Laine. Awarded kitchen appliances by Thermador Appliances, Whirlpool Corporation, Sub-Zero Freezer Company, Electrolux Major Appliances, Miele, Snaidero, Bosch Home Appliances, and Gaggenau Industrie are destined for the world's most cutting-edge kitchen environments that will enhance modern living for years to come.
BMW AG, Mitsubishi Motors North America, and the Yes! 3.2 Roadster are awarded the "Best New Car Designs of the Year." BMW's Z4 Coupé is awarded for is extraordinary coming-together of style and function with its classic coupé silhouette so typical of the brand, from beginning to end, as the highest standard of the world's automotive industry. The 2007 Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder is a car in a class of itself: bold styling, dynamic performance, futuristic, and eye-catching design. Its sleek, taut, muscular lines and engaging details-inside and out-captures the essence of the car maker offering customers a stand-out design and performance at an affordable price. The superb Yes! 3.2 Roadster, designed by Schweizer Design Consulting in Stuttgart, is a German advancement of its predecessor with it's distinctive wedge-shaped ascending side line and the "racy" accentuated wings in the front and rear, combined with a more powerful 3.2-liter-V6-engine, that make this car "pure driving pleasure" and absolute GOOD DESIGN.
Other GOOD DESIGN Awards in transportation are conferred to the Camcopter S-100, an unmanned aerial vehicle by Schiebel Elektronische Geräte GmbH in Vienna, Austria; the Seabob, a sporting vehicle for surface and underwater exploration by Rotinor GmbH in Bielefeld, Germany; and the CaselH, MX Tractor by CNH America LLC in Burr Ridge, Illinois, USA. The Toyama Light Rail in Toyama, Japan, is manufactured by Niigata Transis Incorporated and Toyoma Light Rail Incorporated.
"In a world where design and innovation now move faster than the speed of light, after 56 years,the GOOD DESIGN Awards remain the most coveted design prize for the most innovative and advanced design produced in the global environment," adds Narkiewicz-Laine.
All winning designs for GOOD DESIGN 2006 can be viewed at the Museum's website:
http://www.chi-athenaeum.org/gdesign/2006/winners06.htm
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