Jan 8, 2013

30th Anniversary of Design Plus at Ambiente

More than just a pleasing appearance – Design Plus has stood for outstanding product design and sustainable innovations in the consumer-goods sector for three decades. This year, 22 products and product series by 17 companies from nine countries have been selected for the Design Plus Award. The award-winning articles will be on show at the Design Plus exhibition on Level 1 of the Galleria at Ambiente from 15 to 19 February 2013.

Besides established brands, such as Alessi, Authentics, Carl Mertens, Normann Copenhagen and Stelton, newcomers to the scene have also made their mark. They include JIA from Hong Kong with no less than four entries and the LotusGrill of the German company of the same name.

“Every year, Design Plus spotlights unique products that perfectly combine design quality with functionality and sustainability and that have not been on the market for longer than two years. Thus, the award is an excellent aid for both retailers and consumers wanting to explore the huge range of new designs on the market”, says Nicolette Naumann, Vice President Ambiente / Tendence.

Most of this year’s award winners come from the table and kitchen product segments. Their creations range from cooking dishes and practical kitchen aids to up-market porcelain and glass sets. Innovative solutions for preparing food are offered, for example, by Alessi with ‘Il Tempo della Festa’, a set of six paté moulds, Carl Mertens with the ‘YOU’ salt and pepper mills and Monkey Business with ‘Karoto’, a carrot sharpener. Among the products distinguished by elegance and functionality are the ‘Blanc’ gourmet series by Porzellanmanufaktur Fürstenberg and the ‘Dorotea’ cutlery series by AB Gense. Sustainability is in the forefront for the young 8 Pandas brand from Hong Kong, which uses only natural and fully bio-degradable raw materials for its creations. Its ‘Series 1’ dishes made of bamboo were selected for the Design Plus Award. In the Living and Giving sections, a particularly good impression was made by German companies such as Authentics with ‘Pill’ and Side by Side with ‘Birdi to go’ bird house and ‘Little Stool’ footstool.

30th anniversary of Design Plus
Only time will tell which of this year’s Design Plus winners will be long sellers. The award itself, however, has developed into a classic distinction in the design world after being launched by the ‘Design and Life Initiative’ (Initiative Form und Leben) in 1983. The sponsors of this internationally recognised award are Messe Frankfurt Exhibition GmbH, the German Design Council (Rat für Formgebung), Frankfurt, and the Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (Industrie- und Handelskammertag – DIHK), Berlin. The aim both then and now is not only to honour special products of the consumer-goods industry at Ambiente but also to draw the attention of a wider audience to design innovations and, therefore, to generate motivating impulses for the sector.

Design Plus Jury
The winners are chosen by a jury of personalities from the international design scene. The members of the jury change annually. This year, they are:
Designers: Mark Braun, Berlin, Germany
Design trade: Daniel Rozensztroch, Merci, Paris, France
Design management: Renny Ramakers, Droog, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Design teaching: Hubert Kittel, Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design, Halle, Germany
Trade press: Stephan Ott, form, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Design producer: Jan Hoekstra, GreenPan TM, Drongen, Belgium
Sponsor: Andrej Kupetz, German Design Council (Rat für Formgebung), Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Sponsor: Julia Droege, Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce (Industrie- und Handelskammertag – DIHK), Frankfurt am Main, Germany

All Design Plus 2013 winners at a glance:
8 Pandas (Hong Kong / China), AB Gense (Sweden), Alessi (Italy), Authentics (Germany), Carl Mertens (Germany), Iris Barcelona (Spain), JIA (Hong Kong / China), La Rochère (France), Lico (Hong Kong / China), LotusGrill (Germany), Monkey Business (Israel), Normann Copenhagen (Denmark), Porzellanmanufaktur Fürstenberg GmbH (Germany), Porzellan-Manufaktur Herend AG (Hungary), Side by Side – Caritas Wendelstein Werkstätten (Germany), Städter (Germany) and Stelton (Denmark).

Ambiente, the leading international trade fair
Ambiente is the leading international trade fair for products for the table, kitchen, household, giving and decorating, as well as for home and furnishing accessories. For five days at the beginning of the business year, around 4,500 exhibitors occupying 27 exhibition halls show what consumers will be able to see in shops around the world in 2013. However, Ambiente is a must not only for the range of products, which is unrivalled in terms of both depth and breadth, the world’s leading consumer-goods fair is also distinguished by a wide variety of events, promotional programmes for young people, trend presentations and awards ceremonies.

Note for journalists:
You will find further information and high-resolution photographs on the internet at: www.ambiente.messefrankfurt.com/journalisten.

Background information on Messe Frankfurt
Messe Frankfurt is Germany’s leading trade fair organiser, with 538* million euros in sales and 1,891* active employees worldwide. The Messe Frankfurt Group has a global network of 28 subsidiaries and approx. 50 international Sales Partners, giving it a presence for its customers in more than 150 countries. Events “made by Messe Frankfurt” take place at more than 30 locations around the globe. In 2012, Messe Frankfurt organised 109* trade fairs, of which more than half took place outside Germany. Messe Frankfurt’s exhibition grounds, featuring 578,000 square metres, are currently home to ten exhibition halls and an adjacent Congress Center. The company is publicly owned, with the City of Frankfurt holding 60 percent and the State of Hesse 40 percent.

For more information, please visit our website at: www.messefrankfurt.com
* preliminary numbers (2012).