The winners of the first annual Wallpaper* Design Awards have been announced today in the January/February issue of Time Inc.'s global lifestyle and design title. Dedicated entirely to the awards, the issue on sale today features more than 70 of the most clever, exciting, dynamic, functional, inspired and life-enhancing designs of the previous 12 months.
The Wallpaper* team decided on the categories and consulted with the members of its Wallpaper* club (an online benefit available exclusively to readers). An international panel of high profile judges was brought in to judge the 10 international categories. Judges refrained from voting in any category in which they were nominated. Among the winners:
* Best City - Miami
* Best Domestic Design - "K2" by Norbert Wangen for Boffi
* Best Hotel - Claska, Tokyo
* Most Life-Enhancing Item - Virgin Atlantic Upper-Class Seat
* Best Residential Project - Retreat by Makoto Yamaguchi
* Best Fashion Collection - Jil Sander
* Best New Public Building - Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art,
Cincinnati, by Zaha Hadid
* Best Public Space - Millennium Park, Chicago
* Best Gadget - Apple's iPod Mini
* Best New Furniture Design - "Friday" chair, by Stefan Diez
* Best Salon, House of Bumble, New York
The international judges included the actor Gael Garcia Bernal, furniture designers Fernando and Humberto Campana, designer Annabel Karim Kassar, architect Richard Meier, fashion designer Jil Sander, and art director Peter Saville.
"With such a wealth of information at our fingertips, an eager team of experts at our desks, and a legion of international correspondents just a click of a button away, it seemed obvious that, on an annual basis, we should look back and celebrate the most dynamic, functional, inspired and life-enhancing designs of the previous 12 months," Wallpaper* editor-in-chief, Jeremy Langmead commented.