Design Award of the Federal Republic of Germany 2011
The Design Award is sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology and was given for exceptional international achievements in the field of product design as the »Federal Prize for Good Form« for the first time in 1969. Since 2006, it has been presented annually under the name »Design Award of the Federal Republic of Germany« and is given for outstanding achievements in the fields of product and communication design, as well as to a celebrity from the world of design. Additionally, since 2010, an endowed prize to encourage up-and-coming new talent has been awarded to a young designer.
What distinguishes the Design Award of the Federal Republic of Germany from other competitions is that it offers the business community a platform for communicating the long-term success of designs and brands. Its unique feature is that participation in this competition is possible only for design items that have already won an award elsewhere. This ensures that only those industrial products and such achievements in the field of communication design will be honoured as have already proved their design excellence in the market place.
For the Design Award of the Federal Republic of Germany, the two creative disciplines of communication design and product design are judged at the same time – and in a single process. The independent jury, which is formally convened by the German Federal Minister of Economics, is composed of established experts in both disciplines. By adjudicating all entries in this cross-disciplinary way, we seek to represent the pinnacle of international developments in the world of design and to reflect the complex picture of our everyday culture and its future scenarios.
The competition is open only to entries that have been nominated for the Design Award of the Federal Republic of Germany by Ministries for Trade and industry or Senators of the German states or by the German Design Council on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology. There is no restriction on the number of nominations. Only products from the fields of product design and communication design, which have emerged successful from a state competition, from a formal selection procedure (overseen by a panel of experts) or from an international competition, will be accepted for the competition for the Design Award of the Federal Republic of Germany. At the same time, products or other achievements will be eligible only if they are already available on the market / have already been published at the time of nomination, or were launched no longer than five years previously.
2011 Finalist Nominee
