Contenders vie for design's answer to the Turner prize

by Francesca Martin
via Guardian Unlimited


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." 1 / 14 Micael Rojkind, Chocolate Museum Photograph: Design Museum 2 / 14 United Visual Artists, Volume; One Point Six, Victoria and Albert Museum Photograph: Design Museum 3 / 14 Adjaye/ Associates, Stephen Lawrence Centre Photograph: Design Museum 4 / 14 Campana Brothers, Transplastic Series Photograph: Design Museum/courtesy Albion 5 / 14 Andrew Nahum, Fiat 500 Photograph: Design Museum 6 / 14 Anthony Dickens, Fifty Table Light Photograph: Design Museum 7 / 14 JC Decaus, Velib Communal Bicycles Photograph: Design Museum 8 / 14 Gary Huswitt, Helvetica documentary Photograph: Design Museum 9 / 14 Thomas Heatherwick, East Beach Cafe Photograph: Andy Stagg/Design Museum 10 / 14 Paul McAnnelly, Hawaii, Designers block Photograph: Design Museum 11 / 14 Komplot, Nobody Chair Photograph: Design Museum 12 / 14 Christoph Behling, Serpentine boat Photograph: Design Museum 13 / 14 Giles Deacon, Spring/ Summer 2008 collection Photograph: Design Museum 14 / 14 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).