Friday, February 15

Contenders vie for design's answer to the Turner prize

by Francesca Martin
via Guardian Unlimited


East Beach Cafe, Littlehampton
One of the entries ... the East Beach Cafe. Photograph: Roger Bamber


A giant strawberry, a solar-powered shuttleboat and a sleek beachside cafe are all in the running for the UK's first ever international design award.

Intended as the design world's answer to the Turner prize, the Brit Insurance Designs of the Year have been chosen by a team of 70 "spotters", among them photographer Nick Knight and fashion designer Wayne Hemingway. Their shortlist spans seven categories, from fashion to transport to furniture, with entries dating from the past 12 months.


Among the 100 designs up for awards, to be launched next week in London by the Design Museum, are architect Thomas Heatherwick's East Beach Cafe in Littlehampton, Christoph Behling's solar-powered shuttleboat, a spring-summer collection by clothes designer Giles Deacon, and a poster by London-based design collective Hawaii, featuring an oversized strawberry above two blue hands.

Other nominated designs include the 10,000 silver bicycles installed in Paris last summer and available to rent by the hour, and the Nintendo Wii game console.

One winner in each category, decided by a panel of judges including architect and designer Antonio Citterio, will be announced on March 11, with the overall winner named a week later.

Dejan Sudjic, director of the Design Museum, says: "Awards are very difficult to get right, but by making it an award for a work rather than an individual, we are avoiding any 'celebrity of the person'. We hope the awards will give people a chance to say, 'Wow, what an exciting world design is', and realise how central it is to our cultural life."


Micael Rojkind, Chocolate Museum

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Micael Rojkind, Chocolate Museum

Photograph: Design Museum
United Visual Artists, Volume; One Point Six, V&A

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United Visual Artists, Volume; One Point Six, Victoria and Albert Museum

Photograph: Design Museum

Adjaye/ Associates, Stephen Lawrence Centre

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Adjaye/ Associates, Stephen Lawrence Centre

Photograph: Design Museum


Campana Brothers, Transplastic Series

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Campana Brothers, Transplastic Series

Photograph: Design Museum/courtesy Albion

Andrew Nahum, Fiat 500

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Andrew Nahum, Fiat 500

Photograph: Design Museum


Anglepoise

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Anthony Dickens, Fifty Table Light

Photograph: Design Museum

JCDecaus, Velib Communal Bicycles

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JC Decaus, Velib Communal Bicycles

Photograph: Design Museum


Helvetica

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Gary Huswitt, Helvetica documentary

Photograph: Design Museum

Thomas Heatherwick, East Beach Café

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Thomas Heatherwick, East Beach Cafe

Photograph: Andy Stagg/Design Museum

Paul McAnnelly, Hawaii, Designers block

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Paul McAnnelly, Hawaii, Designers block

Photograph: Design Museum

Komplot, Nobody Chair

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Komplot, Nobody Chair

Photograph: Design Museum



Christoph Behling, Serpentine Boat

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Christoph Behling, Serpentine boat

Photograph: Design Museum

Giles Deacon, Spring/ Summer ‘08

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Giles Deacon, Spring/ Summer 2008 collection

Photograph: Design Museum

Ma Ke, Wy Yong (Useless), China

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Ma Ke, Wy Yong (Useless), China

Photograph: Design Museum


The exhibition displays the shortlisted designs for the inaugural Brit Insurance Design Awards, which will take place on 18th March 2008.

The exhibition and awards celebrate the most innovative and progressive international design over the past 12 months and span seven categories to cover all design disciplines: Architecture, Graphics, Fashion, Product, Furniture, Interactive and Transport. The awards will be judged by a panel that includes Nadia Swarovski, Rolf Fehlbaum and Antonio Citterio.

The 100 shortlisted designs on display at the exhibition, which runs until 27th April 2008, include the new Fiat 500 (transport), Muji's Wind-up radio (product) and Peter Saville's Kate Moss brand logo (graphics).


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