Jury Roberto Paoli, Lars Qadejacob, Dr. Jana Scholze, Michael Anastassiades, Rossana Hu

The German Design Council announced the winners of the 16th Design Report Award, which took place at the Salone Satellite in Milan on 16th April, 2015.

A six-strong jury decided the winners at the Salone Satellite in Milan, selecting them from amongst the approx 700 participants in the Salone Satellite exhibition, which is itself strictly curated by a panel of international judges.

This international newcomer forum of the Salone del Mobile, which was initiated by Marva Griffin Wilshire in 1996, and has been under her direction ever since, makes the Design Report Award a seismograph for talented youngsters

Some of its past winners, including Stefan Diez, Nendo, the Pinwu group and Daniel Rybakken, have gone on to achieve success on a global scale.

The Design Report Award is presented to individual designers or teams whose work is not only based on an outstanding concept but which has also been properly produced and presented in a compelling way.

First place is worth € 7,500, but three runners-up also receive a distinction and benefit from the publicity surrounding the award.

The Design Report Award jury comprises every year new and alternate internationally successful designers.

The Design Report Magazine is published by the German Design Council, which has been Germany’s leading design promotion institution for more than 60 years.

It was founded by decree of the first German Bundestag back in 1953;.

Today its members include over 200 design-oriented German companies with a combined workforce of more than 2 million staff.

With its exhibitions, conferences, design awards and publications, the German Design Council is committed to keeping design firmly on the agenda.

It was not an easy task, which confronted the international jury of experts: the work of nearly 200 young designers to examine in one day and also to talk with many of them about their projects.

Chaired by Design Report editor in Chief, Lars Quadejacob, they spent a whole day on the grounds of the Salone Satellite examined the exhibited works with much dedication, surveyed their respective copyright and discussed among themselves.

The jury members were particularly looking for new concepts.

Unfortunately, many young designers had superficially mimicked existing product concepts encountered skepticism by the jury. Also rejected, was am impressive stand that received much attention otherwise: a whole world of everyday life from the 3-D printer ( NB however they won the Salone Satellite Award earlier in the day )

But the jury was quite clear: technically brilliant, but conceptual design, anything new was a candidate for the Award.

Eventually the jury decided on the exact opposite: a return to ancient craft, combined with new production methods.

The result was announced at the prize-giving ceremony in front of several hundred spectators, led by Design Report Director, Lars Quadejacob.

In a short speech, Andrej Kupetz, Chief Executive of the German Council for Design, thanked those involved in the Design Report Award and presented the award in the context of the promotion of the Foundation.

The winner of the Design Report Award 2015 was …………… Vittorio Venezia

He received a cheque for Euro 7,500 and was most pleased accordingly !

” The art consists of good designs to make character objects “, said Dr. Jana Scholze in her eulogy on the prize-winner,” the Design Report Award by 2015 is therefore also the expression of our special appreciation of craftsmen, which Vittorio Venezia’s designs realized.”

Judge Michael Anastassiades appreciated the decision for the Italians as a vote for the ” beauty of craft ”

Marva Griffin Wilshire – as the initiator of the Salone Satellite – participated in the award ceremony

1st Prize winner =  Vittorio Venezia

Born in Palermo in 1980, Vittorio Venezia studied architecture in his home town.

In 2007 he moved to Milan where, besides working in the studio of Alessandro Mendini, he also collaborated with designers like Denis Santachiara and Giulio Iacchetti. Venezia, whose clients include firms such as Alcantara, Falper and Meritalia, has won a number ofawards for his designs.

He often feels drawn to return to his native city – and even dedicated the 4decimi and Ferrocollections he was showing in Milan to Via Calderai, a Palermo lane famed for its craftsmen’s workshops.

4decimi (four tenths) is a series of twelve pendant lamps that owes its name to the 0.4-millimetre thick sheet steel that the shades are made of.

They are reminiscent of ready-mades and intended as a homage to everyday Sicilian objects such as oil canisters, funnels or sieves.

“Every single piece,” says the designer, “was cut, bent and welded by hand by 86-year-old tinsmith Nino Ciminna at what is probably the oldest workshop on Via Calderai.”

The traditional iron grilles that inspired Vittorio Venezia’s Ferro collection are made on the same street

The product family consists of five different chairs, a table, six flower stands and a doorstop.

The components of the individual pieces were CNC cut out of iron slabs and welded together by a young blacksmith from Via Calderai.

Special Mentions

As demonstrated by many examples from previous years, the designreport award Special Mention can be a real career booster for talented young designers: so as to give the runners-up a helping hand on the road to success, Designreport provides support in the form of professional PR.

Meike Harde

27-year-old Meike Harde has already made a name for herself with original designs such as a series of seating furniture called Zieharsofika.

After studying product design at the HBKsaar, she did an internship with Benjamin Hubert in London in 2012 and founded her own firm in Saarbrücken in 2013.

In her designs, she looks for unusual constructional solutions whilst never losing sight of the conceptual, symbolic aspects of her creations

” My work represents a kind of feminine style that deliberately sets itself apart from established forms,” she says.

In Milan, Meike Harde was showing the results of Wooden Aquarell – a study she conducted into colouring wood.

She discovered that the addition of liquid pigments creates subtly nuanced areas of colour on the material’s surface. The pigmented wood is finished with a coat of varnish and can then be processed for a wide variety of uses

David Lehmann

Born in Wuppertal in 1985, David Lehmann studied industrial design at Stuttgart’s Academy of Art and Design.

As an assistant to sculptor Tony Cragg, he also gained experience in the world of art.

In 2013, he founded his own design studio in Munich, where he has been living ever since.

In Milan, David Lehmann presented designs made of wood, glass, porcelain and nano liquid.

The latter can be used to make bubbles that look and float just like soap bubbles but don’t burst quite as quickly.

David Lehmann used them to form the Ephemere bowl, which can withstand being looked at but vanishes under even the slightest load.

In a way, you could say the porcelain collection Vers a Tile is the exact opposite of this conceptual one-off.

Produced by an artisanal manufacturer in Saxony, the plates, cups and bowls convinced the jury with their clear design language and excellent manufacturing quality – not to mention their multi functionality.

The eggcup, for instance, doubles as an espresso cup, and the plates can be used as lids for the bowls

NBT Studio