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ISSUE: September/October 2009
The Value Of Good Design
Designers and design experts, politicians and economists alike converged in the in Essen, Germany on June 29, 2009, and celebrated the success of the Red Dot Award: Product Design 2009/10 winners.
“Despite the poor current economic situation, more companies than ever before have taken part in this year's Red Dot Award: Product Design. This proves that these companies value and exploit the economic potential of good design for their place on the global market”, said Professor Dr Peter Zec, the initiator of the Red Dot Design Award.
Best Of The Best
AC 4 Office Chair
Vitra GmbH, Weil am Rhein, Germany
Design: Antonio Citterio, Milan, Italy
The backrest with invisible details is actually divided into three sections with internal functions: above the rigid lumbar support zone begins the flexible zone with cushioned chambers that distribute pressure evenly across the upper back, followed by a support zone for the shoulders. This innovative technical feature is visible beneath foam padding. Details such as aluminium loop armrests or variably adjustable 3D armrests accentuate this visual appearance.
Honourable Mentions
Solitaire Storage Furniture
Euskirchen Manufaktur, Bielefeld, Germany
Design: Dirk Tegtmeyer, Bielefeld, Germany
This versatile storage furniture is intended for wall fastening. The discreet design concept includes a straight-line angular shelf. In combination with a dark reflecting angled sliding door made of glass it forms a partially closed corpus.
Other Winners
4+ Lounge and Conference Chair
Züco Bürositzmöbel AG, Rebstein, Switzerland
In-house design: design4, Munich, Germany
Design: (Jan Papenhagen, Wolfgang Ott, Angelika Mosig, Andreas Notter)
Its seat and backrest are formed from two seemingly separated shells that move synchronously. The shells seem to be made of one piece and are bent upwards like wings. Another striking design feature is the joining seam at the rear of the backrest, whose form follows the contours of a human body. The optional armrests are easily assembled; they jut out from the lower surface of the seat shell and offer additional support for the back.
Other Winners
Galla Conference Chair
Fumac A/S, Randers, Denmark
Design: busk+hertzog i/s, Copenhagen, Denmark
As the front part of the armrest is below the standard height of a conference tabletop an ergonomically correct seating position is achieved. The manufacturer succeeds in producing a compact seating furniture with minimal use of materials. The classical back- and armrests made of solid wood are combined with a light metal frame.
Other Winners
Gube Instant Furniture Modular Regulatory and Presentation System
Gube GmbH & Co KG, Heidenheim, Germany
In-house design: Philipp Baldermann, René Götzenbrugger
Design: graustich gbr, Heidenheim, Germany
The four shelf elements are placed in the outer cover and braced with each other without the aid of tools. Mounting additional cubes is simply done by sticking them together. The flexible cover is made of translucent synthetics and the interior parts are made of MDF nature, MDF white-coated with natural edges or MDF black-imbued. A single cube can carry a load of up to 300 kg so that the system can be assembled in numerous functional variants.
Other Winners
4+ Lounge and Conference Chair
Davis Furniture Industries, Inc., High Point, USA
Design: Vogtherr Design, Mülhausen, France (Burkhard Vogtherr)
By a special manufacturing technology of injection moulding the flexible backrest seamlessly passes into the rigid armrests, which connects back and seat. A steel frame is placed in harmonious correspondence with the recyclable polypropylene shell.
Other Winners
Sitagprime Conference Chair
Sitag AG, Sennwald, Switzerland
Design: Witzigdesign, Wolfhausen, Switzerland (Uli Witzig)
The stable frame is made of a flat anodised aluminium profile whereas the armrests are furnished with a thin coating in correspondence with the seating. Underneath the lower edge of the aluminium profile special synthetic glider rails are mounted for easy moving of the chair.
Other Winners
Spriggy Cross Table System
Gallix, Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, France
Design: Vincent Gallix
The flexibly mountable table frame adapts to different table forms. Made of shining stainless steel the crossed frame weighs only a few kilograms. By means of matching connection modules it is quickly assembled.
Honourable Mentions
Filo Table Meeting and Conference Table
Bene AG, Waidhofen/Ybbs, Austria
Design: EOOS Design, Vienna, Austria
Filo Table is a modular, flexible and easy-to-assemble system for conference rooms. Its visual lightness is due to straight-line mounting frames, whose slender silhouettes strive upwards from an aluminium die cast. Antler-shaped supporting arms for safe fastening of the tabletop provide reliable stability. Within easy reach the support for media technology is unobtrusively integrated.
Honourable Mentions
temptation Desk Series
Sedus Stoll AG, Waldshut, Germany
Design: Andreas Struppler Industriedesign, Munich, Germany (Andreas Struppler)
The forms of the “temptation” desk series are characterised by a surrounding slim traverse frame that allows the use of thin tabletop materials.
Other Winners
Ahrend 360 Multi-Purpose Chair
Ahrend Productiebedrijf Zwanenburg BV, Zwanenburg, Netherlands
Design: Flex/The InnovationLab BV, Delft, Netherlands
With an innovative magnesium frame and a polypropylene seat this multi-purpose chair achieves a high degree of lightness. By producing a frame of magnesium instead of aluminium less energy was used. The chair elements are not permanently connected with each other, since they are neither glued nor welded.
Other Winners
cobi Swivel Chair
Steelcase Werndl AG, Rosenheim, Germany
In-house design: Steelcase Design Studio, Grand Rapids, US
Design: PearsonLloyd, London, Greatbritain
An intuitive weight-activated mechanism automatically responds to each movement thus supporting individual seating positions. As soon as the user pushes his arm against the backrest, the upper edge made of comfortable elastomer – an elastic plastic material – is yielding. cobi surprises with its innovative seat shell that flexes on three sides.
Other Winners
ios Swivel Chair
Drabert GmbH, Minden, Germany
In-house design: Drabert GmbH
Design: Volker Eysing, Kiel, Germany
The office swivel chair has only three buttons for individual adjustment of seat height, seat depth and backrest position. Moreover, the technically mature office chair features a 3D spring component for the automatic adjustment of weight, integrated support of the iliac crest and integrated adjustment of the seat inclination. The innovative eflex system provides special comfort as the backrest consisting of 11 segments auto-adaptively follows the user’s movements.
Other Winners
Perillo Lounge Chair
Züco Bürositzmöbel AG, Rebstein, Switzerland
Design: Design Ballendat, Simbach/Inn, Germany
A flowing and uninterrupted line merges seat, back, armrests and lower frame seamlessly to a coherent unit. In a flowing bend the front surfaces harmoniously turn towards the back surfaces. The body of the chair is cast from white plastics; the outside features a high-gloss surface.
Other Winners
Sitagwave Swivel Chair
Sitag AG, Sennwald, Switzerland
Design: Witzigdesign, Wolfhausen, Switzerland (Uli Witzig)
Thanks to the flexible-mounted seat muscles at the lower back and pelvis are supported and strengthened. Furthermore, the rib-shaped structure of the upholstered backrest allows agreeable adaptation to individual posture.
Other Winners
Tune Conference Table System
Wilhelm Renz GmbH + Co KG, Böblingen, Germany
Design: Jehs+Laub GbR, Stuttgart, Germany
A variety of tabletop forms meld into a tranquil, self-contained surface, easily adapted to various architectural circumstances.
Current issue:
March/April 2010
OCi is gaining weight -
But we’re not complaining.
What I mean is: This particular issue of Office & Contract International (OCi) is a heavyweight in terms of content.
This title was launched last year as an answer to the growing sophistication of the international contract market and the lack of a business-to-business...
