In pictures: Designs of the Year 2013 category winners
- Published
The Morph Folding Wheel is one of seven category winners that will be up for the overall Design of the Year 2013 award. The winner of the Transport award was designed by Vitamins for Maddak Inc. It takes up 12 litres of space when folded, compared to 22 litres when it is circular and in use. Actor Griff Rhys Jones, who was a judge on the panel, said: "It’s amazing that no one has re-invented the wheel, which is a testament to the achievement in this nomination."
The Medici Chair by German designer Konstantin Grcic was created for Italian brand Mattiazzi using three types of wood - thermo treated ash, walnut and douglas. Grcic, who won the Furniture award, said he was looking for a "distinct grammar" for his design that took him back to his "professional roots" as a cabinet maker.
The Graphic award was won by the John Morgan Studio for their Venice Architecture Biennale Identity campaign. "Quiet is the new loud," said chair of the jury and designer Ilse Crawford about the posters designed to blend in with the existing Venetian signage.
The Fashion category was awarded to a documentary about the life of style icon and Vogue editor Diana Vreeland. Directed by her granddaughter-in-law, the film "shows fashion as it was being invented" according to the Design Museum. "She took fashion design to another level, reaching a wider audience and creating a greater understanding of the fashion world," said Crawford.
The Gov.uk website won the Digital award for its new design by the Government Digital Service. "Design in this instance has created a logical system that can hugely improve the experience and access for the broad church who rely on its content and applications," said designer and judge Nicholas Roope.
Kit Yamoyo, designed by ColaLife and PI Global, won the Product award for their anti-diarrhoea kits which fit into gaps in Coca-Cola crates. The packaging fits on existing distribution channels to deliver medicine to rural communities in developing countries. Simon Berry from Cola Life said the company studied the success of Coca-Cola to create their business model. "If you design an affordable, desirable health product for the poor" he said, "then lives can be saved."
The Architecture award was awarded to the the Tour Bois-Le-Pretre in Paris. Frederic Druot, Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal transformed a run-down tower block in the north of the city previously known as "Alcatraz". Completed at half the cost of demolition and new build, judge and architect Amanda Levete said it was "an exemplary lesson in harnessing clever thinking and ingenuity to transform neglected parts of our cities – for me that is what good design is all about."
- Published20 March 2013