Even receiving a nomination for this award is a real accolade in the design world. The nominees chosen by the high-calibre German Design Council jury not only have the opportunity of winning one of the prestigious prizes, but also of setting a new standard of design – nationally and internationally. Here’s a quick taster of what to expect at the German Design Award 2015.
During Ambiente, Frankfurt once more becomes the meeting place for a “who’s who” of the design and creative sectors. And a particular highlight at the fair is the presentation of the German Design Award. A special feature of this award is its broad spectrum of categories, not only for outstanding product design but also for successful communication and publicity. To guarantee these cross-genre insights into the world of good design, the German Design Council, which is hosting the award for the fourth time in 2015, has introduced a structural innovation this year: The “Excellent Product Design” and “Excellent Communications Design” sections will now function as separate formats under the umbrella brand of the German Design Award.
The attention of the jury will therefore focus not only on creations in the furnishings sector, but also on designs from the areas of consumer electronics, building systems and manufacturing industry. Potential candidates for the German Design Award also include outstanding achievements in architecture and interior design, print and digital media, branding, packaging and publicity campaigns. The people behind these creative activities are in the spotlight, too. Pioneering design personalities and young designers on the German and international stage are also celebrated. The winner of the German Design Award 2015 in the “Personality” category has already been decided. It goes to furniture entrepreneur Nils Holger Moormann.
Two examples of very different design genres are the following prize winners from last year: “We view the award as confirmation of our creative engagement,” says Markus Püsch from Viessmann Industriekessel Mittenwalde GmbH, which won Gold in the “Industrial Goods and Materials” category. Katharina Triebe, winner in the “Print Media” category for her book Pflanzenschlaf (Plant Sleep), sees it as recognition by the jury for “independently initiated projects and therefore also the diversity of the German design landscape.”
No matter whether you’re a global player or a newcomer to the scene, being nominated for the German Design Award brings recognition to designers, developers and manufacturers alike, as Andrej Kupetz from the German Design Council emphasises. The Council is an independent international organisation that has represented the German design sector for over 60 years and Managing Director Kupetz defines the German Design Award as a premium international award: “Premium because you can’t simply enter, you have to be nominated by a Foundation Member of the German Design Council. The 200 companies that make up the German Design Council represent a lobby for good design.”
And this lobby acts across boundaries not just in terms of the award categories. As has been the case for the past three years, we can expect to encounter creative individuals from all over the world in the German Design Award 2015. This international outlook is confirmed by Maureen Abi Ghanem from Beirut, 2014 winner in the category “Architecture and Design”: “Taking part in the award ceremony and meeting other prize winners from all over the world showed me how diverse, international and important the German Design Award really is.”
Anyone interested in viewing the designs celebrated by the German Design Council has the opportunity during Ambiente to visit the two accompanying exhibitions for the German Design Award: The winners in the category Excellent Product Design and Newcomer finalists will be on show from 13 to 17 February 2015 in Galleria Nord at Messe Frankfurt. The winners and Newcomer finalists in the category “Excellent Communications Design” will be exhibited from 14 February 2015 at the Museum für Angewandte Kunst in Frankfurt. Works by this year’s “Personality” prize winner Nils Holger Moormann will also be displayed in the two exhibitions.
