Baden-Württemberg International Design Award
Over the past decade, the Baden-Württemberg International Design Award has made a name for itself as a “focus” competition, and raised its profile as a highly regarded competition. It enjoys a high reputation among companies and design studios, and is especially valued for its respectable, non-commercial character. This year too, the large number of participants is proof of the great value accorded to design, even in economically unsettled times. It also shows that the awards the entrants compete for are regarded as an effect marketing communication tool.
Participants and awards
For Focus Open 2010, businesspersons and designers from inside and outside Germany submitted a total of 348 products in various categories. The products submitted for judging came from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Belgium, the UK, Japan, China and the United States. The six judges selected a total of 85 award-winners. Seventy-six products were awarded the “Focus in Silver” for excellent design work. The supreme “Focus in Gold” award for outstanding design work went to a further nine products.
Categories
When registering their products, contestants could choose from 16 categories, which suitably reflected the diversity of today’s product worlds:
Production, assembly, logistics
Communication, audio/video, optical equipment
Medicine, rehabilitation, geriatric medicine
Bathrooms, sanitary installations, wellness
Kitchen, household
Tableware and kitchenware
Living
Contract furniture
Ambience, lifestyle
Lighting
Leisure, outdoor
Sport
Children, family
Architecture
Public design
Transport, traffic
Judging and voting procedures
Every year, the Focus competitions are characterized by a high level of objectivity and credibility. For example, almost all the entries for Focus Open were assessed in the original. Only especially bulky products and capital goods were presented as photographs. No products in which the judges were involved were allowed to be entered for the competition. In a two-day judging session, all the products entered were assessed by the following experts:
· Ralf Christoffer, Spirit Design, AT
· Roland de Fries, Kuypers Branding, USA
· Prof. Matthias Held, HfG Schwäbisch Gmünd, DE
· Iris Laubstein, laubstein design management, DE
· Christophe Marchand, Christophe Marchand Design, CH
· Prof. Karin Schmidt-Ruhland, Burg Giebichenstein, Hochschule für Kunst und Design Halle, DE
The experts based their assessments on the following criteria: design quality, functionality, innovative content, ergonomics, interface design, product graphics and typography, ecology, sustainability, quality, grace, emotional content and brand conformity.
Benefit for award-winners
This non-commercial competition with its favourable entry fees also allows smaller and younger companies to measure themselves and their products on an international level. The benefit for the award-winners is especially evident in their marketing communication: the “Focus in Gold” and “Focus in Silver” labels are seals of quality and popular product hallmarks. In addition, the formal award-giving ceremony, the exhibition lasting several weeks on the attractive premises of Ludwigsburg’s “Werkzentrum Weststadt”, as well as the presentation of the products in the internet and their publication in the yearbook, which is distributed worldwide, help generate public attention and awareness.
More and more, however, the award-winning companies also appreciate the value of these awards internally, since they provide welcome acknowledgement of the hard work contributed by employees working in product development. This gives an appreciable boost to motivation, as well as to identification with the company and its products.
Focus in Gold
Category: Communication, audio/video, optical equipment
Falk Vision
mobile navigation system
United Navigation GmbH
D-73760 Ostfildern www.united-navigation.com
Designer
yellow design / yellow circle
D-75172 Pforzheim www.yellowdesign.com
Distributor United Navigation GmbH
D-73760 Ostfildern www.united-navigation.com
The new “Vision 700” and “Vision 500” navigation devices add a new premium segment to the high-quality Falk range.
The flat black housing, with its metallic-look surround, is both sporty and classic in appearance. As the display is completely flush with the frame, the surface of the device is flat. The purist forms and compact and elegant appearance of “Falk Vision” means that it harmonizes excellently with any vehicle interior. The new anthracite screen design gives the brilliant display an especially high-quality feel. The display’s “sensitive touch” function means that it reacts to the lightest touch. The TMC antenna has been completely integrated into the navigation device, and guarantees optimum reception of traffic news, without any irksome tangle of cables at the windscreen.
The “Falk Vision” series also stands out by virtue of its high-end technology. Apart from impressive multimedia compatibility, its navigation function offers aerial maps and 3D terrain views – an innovation that makes every trip an experience.
One further menu item of interest is “Guided Tours”, developed in collaboration with the Baedeker and Marco Polo travel guides. The device comes complete with 30 pre-installed tours in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, offering interesting information about customs and culture in image and text form. A speaker gives a commentary on especially spectacular sights. The “StadtAktiv” feature allows users to reach their destination not only by car, but also by public transport. The navigation device looks for the best rail, bus and train connection.
Judges panel
The powerful magnet, which is not loose but snaps really well into position, is an excellent product detail. The navigation device is beautifully designed, and we especially like the metal strip that runs around three sides. Calm, sober form, very high quality. Not a cheap product, but an item of real value.
Category: Bathrooms, sanitary installations, wellness
Axor Citterio WTM 180 mm
Wash stand mixer tap
D-77761 Schiltach www.hansgrohe.de
Designer
Antonio Citterio and Partners S.r.l.
I-20122 Milano www.antoniocitterioandpartners.it
Distrubutor
Hansgrohe Deutschland Vertriebs GmbH
D-77761 Schiltach www.hansgrohe.de
This single-lever wash stand mixer tap is an addition to the “Axor Citterio” bathroom collection, which stands for the highest design and manufacturing quality. It is characterized by the tension between high-quality surfaces and clear lines, between round and angular shapes, a tension which is continued down to the last detail.
This new fitting stands out by virtue of its formal expression, which perfectly combines timelessness and modernity in its soft, harmonious radii – symbolic of the precious vital element water – and precise, straight edges. Precious materials and brilliant surfaces underline its high quality.
180 millimetres high, the wash stand mixer tap stands for outstanding ease of operation. It can be controlled comfortably by means of a joystick.. The height and length of the spout are well proportioned, and make the tap especially convenient to use. The spray former, which is integrated flush with the tap, allows simple adjustment of the angle of the water jet. The spout’s long overhang means that the fitting can be used with even more different wash-stand geometries. In this way, it opens up additional possibilities for combination and new design possibilities in the wash stand area.
Hansgrohe’s EcoSmart technology means that water flow is reduced to roughly five litres per minute, yet without any loss of comfort.
Judges panel
A fitting for the private sphere, formally very well done. Since a hand or finger is not needed to operate it – a wrist or arm will also do – the mixer tap can be used without having to put dirty hands on it. Very convincing product presentation. We thought the solution with the circular function for mixing hot water was especially appealing. It is easy to tell when the tap is off, and the mechanical design is very well done.
Category: Kitchen, household
T44T43N0
FlexInduction hob with TwistPad
Constructa-Neff Vertriebs GmbH
D-81739 München www.neff.de
Designer
In-house design Elena Leinmüller, Thomas Knöller, Gerhard Nüssler
Distributor
Constructa-Neff Vertriebs GmbH
D-81739 München www.neff.de
The “FlexInduction” hob offers all the benefits of induction, but with even more freedom and comfort when cooking. For example, the hob adjusts flexibly to the size and position of the pots and pans. The left half of the hob is one large cooking zone that can be switched on separately by means of a sensor button, allowing maximum flexibility when it comes to the position and size of the pots and pans –whether an espresso maker or a roasting tin. The right half of the hob comprises two individual induction cooking zones.
The hob also comes with the TwistPad, a revolutionary new control. The magnetic, removable TwistPad offers boundless cooking convenience: simply position, touch lightly, and turn. Nothing could be easier.
The control knob is placed on the ceramic surface next to the digital display, where it is kept in place by permanent magnets under the surface. Sensors in the hob register the change in direction when the control knob is moved, and adjust to the desired setting. If the knob is displaced or removed, the hob switches off automatically.
The layout of the controls is clear and self-explanatory. An elegant stainless steel rim runs around the stylish hob.
Judges panel
Highly innovative, interactive design. It is both intuitive and playful. Using it is fun, but the hob also offers functional benefits – when it comes to cleaning, for example. Its surface is absolutely flush, which makes it easy to clean. Variable cooking zones provide different cooking functions. What makes the child lock attractive for us is that it is a high-tech solution, not just a solution for emergencies.
Category: Tableware and kitchenware
K2
small chef’s knife
www.windmuehlenmesser.de Designer In-house design
Giselheid Herder-Scholz, Tomoyuki Takada Distributor Robert Herder GmbH & Co. KG
D-42697 Solingen www.windmuehlenmesser.de
“K2” is a small, all-purpose knife, made to the highest quality standards for discerning cooks. Although only 11 centimetres long, its blade is also broad. As it is gently curved, it has excellent cutting qualities, since the line of the cutting edge is comparable with that of a large cook’s knife. This means the knife can be used in a very similar way to a large knife. At the same time, it has the great advantage of being very handy because of its significantly smaller size.
With an overall length of 23 centimetres, this small knife is suitable for all kinds of cutting work. Whether vegetables or herbs, meat or spices, the small chef’s knife cuts cleanly and precisely.
It is available with a choice of four handles: in plum or olive wood, in black polyoxymethylene or white acrylic plastic. Its blade is ground thin using traditional craft methods, and honed by hand for extreme sharpness. It is available either in stainless chromium-molybdenum-vanadium steel or in non-stainless carbon steel. The stainless variant of the knife weighs just 60 grams, while the non-stainless version weighs 68 grams.
Judges panel
A very beautiful knife, also because of the combination of wood and metal, very aesthetic. It fits snugly in the hand. We like its archaic qualities, with the rivets. It is a wonderful tool, incredibly sharp. The broad blade is important when cutting. Your can run your fingers along the blade without injuring yourself. Formally, it is reminiscent of the first beautiful knives with their riveted handles, although the blade is more evocative of Japanese knives. The best of both worlds has been combined here.
Category: Living
Kurt
sofa bed
www.seefelder.com
Designer
Jan Armgardt Design
D-86938 Schondorf
Distributor
Seefelder Möbelwerkstätten
D-82229 Seefeld www.seefelder.com
Is “Kurt” a sofa or a bed? A sofa bed or a bed sofa? “Kurt” is all these at once, going far beyond the original idea of the sleeping sofa to meet the special demands of our modern age: It is comfortable and flexible, for sitting and sleeping. It is easy to convert and suitable for different settings.
In each one of its functions, this two in-one sofa offers plenty of comfort and many features.
When it is open, the low-slung, high-back seat is a comfortable sofa. Its architectural lines and unusual proportions make it a real eye-catcher. Its slightly sloping seating surface makes for a comfortable, laid-back position. The arm rests offer a broad, shelf-like surface.
The sofa is simply and quickly closed in one single movement, by tipping the back rest forward. This results in a regular cuboid shape. It can then be used as a couch or a as day bed for an afternoon nap at home, as a bench or as an office lounger for a quick creative siesta. The pleasant height of its sleeping surface means it can equally well be used as a perfectly adequate spare bed.
Its extreme flexibility also pays of when moving home. Thanks to its fold-down back, Kurt can be stowed away very flat in a removal van. Its structure is made of solid beech, its outer frame of tubular steel, and its legs of black stained beech.
Judges panel
Things hardly get much simpler or more attractive than this. In all its uses, it creates a coherent presence, and its form remains intact even when it is a bed. This sets it apart from other sofa beds, where elements have to be pulled out, and side elements stay where they are. One especially pleasant feature is that the mattress core is soft, because the frame runs around the edge. It is not only pleasant to lie on, but also to sit on. There are scarcely any sofa beds this could be said of. One clever feature is the wedge-like slope of the seating surface, which makes for better ergonomics and formal autonomy. A good product for people like New Yorkers, who have little room not only for guests, but also for themselves.
Category: Contract furniture
Parcs
zone-creating furniture series
A-3340 Waidhofen a. d. Ybbs
www.bene.com
Designer
PearsonLloyd
London N1 6ND UK
www.pearsonlloyd.com
Distributor
Bene Stuttgart GmbH
D-70565 Stuttgart
www.bene.com
“It needs progressiveness to recognize that someone who sits on a sofa can still be creating value for the company”, says Tom Lloyd from the design studio PearsonLloyd, which created “Parcs”. This zone-creating range of furniture shapes an inspiring working environment for spontaneous exchange, personal encounters, team work and meetings.
The designers first analyzed how people in the office work and interact when they are outside the formal environment of meeting rooms, conference halls, and their desks. The result was “Parcs”, a different kind of furniture for the central communicative zone in the office, which now becomes a area that can be structured as desired. It comprises a wide variety of individual furniture elements that can be combined as desired, for any kind of situation. There is no pre-determined use for the elements.
There are four “typologies”. “Causeways” comprises benches, fence modules, cupboards and walls, and invites the use to sit, stand or lean. The wings on the headrests of the armchairs and sofas in the “Wing Series” provide visual and acoustic privacy. In this way, they allow focused discussions and work, or relaxation. With its striking shape, “Toguna” creates a round, acoustically protected, semi-open space for brainstorming sessions or brief meetings, in which participants can sit or stand. The “Idea Wall” is a free-standing, angled wall element with integrated communication and media technology. If it is combined with a high desk or Causeway elements, it is an ideal place for media-based presentations and discussions.
“Parcs” creates new trends, motivates people to move, and encourages initiative and innovation.
Judges panel
A zone-creating furniture series that provides a convincing answer to the need to create separate zones in open-plan offices. It creates the atmosphere of a separate room – also acoustically – for the most diverse meeting situations. It gives you a feeling of privacy. You can talk or use your mobile without interruption. At the same time, however, the elements’ openness, especially at arm-rest height, gives you freedom to move. Functionally very well done. The whole thing has a cocooning touch. It arouses emotions, very impressive, great.
Category: Ambience, lifestyle
Dyson Air Multiplier
table-top fan
Dyson GmbH
D-50825 Köln
www.dyson.de
Designer
Dyson LTD
James Dyson und RDD Team
Malmesbury, Wiltshire SN 16 ORP UK
www.dyson.co.uk
Distributor
Dyson GmbH
D-50825 Köln
www.dyson.de
Dyson engineers have come up with a revolutionary patented technology for a completely new kind of fan. While conventional fans chop up the air with their blades, creating an irregular, buffeting flow of air, the “Dyson Air Multiplier” functions without any rotors at all. The result is a cool jet of air that is regular, pleasant and uninterrupted.
A thin slit inside the air ring accelerates the air. In this way a circular flow of air is created. This is guided over a sloping surface shaped like an aircraft wing, which directs the air jet. In addition, ambient air is drawn in and amplified 15 times. By combining technologies used in turbochargers and jet engines, a powerful jet of air is created – up to 450 litres of air per second.
While commercially available fans have two or three-stage controls to govern air speed, the Dyson fan is infinitely variable. Conventional fans are also top-heavy, which makes them difficult to direct. The “Dyson Air Multiplier” is different. As the energy-efficient, brushless motor is housed in the base, it has a low centre of gravity. The air ring can be easily tilted in order to give the air jet exactly the right direction. And as the new fan, which is made of ABS plastic, does not have any fast-turning blades that require a guard, it is both safe and easy to clean.
Judges panel
A technological innovation, formally simple, very convincing. For this product, a new, unprecedented form has been found. Simply a fan without blades, reminiscent of a turbine. Fascinating. Very sculptural, perfect for the home or the office, an eye-catcher. And the safety angle should not be forgotten. Conventional fans have always been dangerous for children. Nowhere for dust to settle anymore, compared with the old fan designs. It can simply be wiped clean. Very simple and intuitive user interface.
Category: Lighting
Modul L 120
pendant lamp
Nimbus Group GmbH
D-70469 Stuttgart
www.nimbus-group.com
Designer
In-house design
Distributor
Nimbus Group GmbH
D-70469 Stuttgart
www.nimbus-group.com
“Modul L 120” is a very flat, height-adjustable LED.next pendant lamp that can be used both in the home and in the office. In this lamp, clear, strict design, and a purist formal expression that has been reduced to the essentials combine with the highest level of lighting technology.
The diffusor surface is furnished with dimples with integrated lenses that direct light and reduce glare. Down light is emitted in a narrow beam. Optic lenses create a more strictly defined angle of light. The dimples efficiently direct the light without glare to exactly where it is needed, and thus ensure that work surfaces are effectively illuminated.
Even when it is not suspended far from the ceiling, the elegant lamp is excellently suited for a variety of lighting tasks. It comes complete with stainless-steel suspension cords, which can be adjusted to any length between 30 and 180 centimetres. “Modul L 120” is available either in chrome-plated or silver-anodized aluminium, with a diffuser surface of matt acrylic glass.
Judges panel
Clear, beautiful, unadorned, and yet poetic. The lamp is so minimalistic that you can scarcely see any design. Nonetheless, you can see a carefully considered corner here, where the material has been beautifully shaped and the profile remains open. Minimalism at its best. The way the Nimbus logo has been applied in white on silver is wonderful: unassuming, but branded nonetheless. For an LED lamp, luminosity is very high. This means it works well as a table lamp, which is something that cannot yet be said of other lamps of similar design.
Category: Architecture
Vitocal 300-G
heat pump
Viessmann Werke GmbH & Co. KG
D-35108 Allendorf/Eder
www.viessmann.com
Designer
Phoenix Design GmbH & Co. KG
D-70376 Stuttgart
www.phoenixdesign.com
Distributor
Viessmann Werke GmbH & Co. KG
D-35108 Allendorf/Eder
ww.viessmann.com
“Less is more” is the design principle behind this new heat pump. By analogy to its main function, which is to generate heat economically and in an eco-friendly way, without emissions and waste heat, “Vitocal 300-G” with its cutting-edge heat pump technology looks like a high-end safe for storing heat. With its clearly structured contours and one-part front panel, this heat pump harmonizes with any modern architectural setting.
Its intelligent controls are hidden away in a hinged control housing. The angle of opening can be set to suit the user. The newly developed Vitotronic with its central cursor control is used to operate all functions, which are also shown graphically on the large, high-contrast display screen. Because it focuses on the main functions and arranges information and user levels according to a clear hierarchy, user-friendliness is increased, especially for inexperienced users.
The silver colour of the body is an expression of clarity, high quality and progressiveness. Combined with highlights in orange, to symbolize warmth, it combines innovation and tradition. The uniform design language and consistent way brand identity is maintained across the entire range gives rise to a formal identity that creates orientation and trust.
Judges panel
Viessmann has done it again. It has brought innovation to this product world by leaving the housing very plain but designing the control element as a high-quality, attractive vanity case in orange. A new aesthetics for such a classic product. Consistent and successful application of corporate design with high recognition value and attractive creation of the brand family. Logo is nicely positioned, giving an impression of high quality. Only the really complex control elements are emphasized. For the rest, a simple geometric shape in a powerful, solid design.
