For some they seem too inflationary, for some there can’t be enough of them: award ceremonies and awards, with which not only award winners, but often also the awarding institutions adorn themselves. And yet, what possibilities does a creative person have to have the achievement of his creative work, his ideas, recognized accordingly?
For a designer, it’s a good way to determine where I stand, and so I’ve repeatedly faced up to a wide variety of jury verdicts.
Right at the beginning of my career, I was able to snag an Adolf Loos State Prize recognition award in the “Experimental Design” category for a water-powered razor, which confirmed me even then that I was working as a designer.
Later, my diploma thesis, the design of an urban cable car and statement for “future urban mobility”, was awarded the Createch Award in 2008 as the winner in the “Rail” category of the Federal Ministry. The whole thing also had practical consequences, because the Doppelmayr company was interested in it and a concept was worked out together. More on this in one of my other blog posts, but many confirm that it still represents a milestone in the field of future urban mobility and is considered a solution to the traffic problem of cities of the future.
Createch Award - Vienna
Createch Gala – Vienna – Preisverleihung und Interview – 2008 Klaus Eberhartinger I Johannes Geisler I Dag Holmgren I DR. Caspar Einem I Bundesministerium für Verkehr, Innovation und Technologie
By the way, do you know the most famous international prizes for product design? The Oscars of the industry, so to speak. I would like to introduce you to two of them.
The design award that probably has the greatest international reputation is the Red Dot Design Award. You probably know the red dot that adorns many a design object and is considered a sought-after seal of quality. The prize is advertised by the Design Zentrum Nordrhein-Westfalen. Everyone can submit their products there, only very few, sometimes just one or two percent of the submissions, then receive the coveted red dot from a specialist jury. The winning projects are published in a yearbook and shown in exhibitions around the world.
One of the oldest and at the same time one of the most well-known prizes for industrial design is the Good Design Award. It was first awarded in Chicago in 1950. The competition is organized by the Chicago Athanaeum, the museum for architecture and design, and the European Center for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies. A jury of designers, specialist journalists and experts from the industry honor products from a wide variety of areas, such as furniture, household products and electronics. The winners will be included in the Chicago Athenaeum’s permanent design collection for public display.
As I said, these are the Oscars among the awards. But no less important are national awards, which are bestowed by most major industrialized countries. Also Austria, among other things with the big state prize for design, which I was fortunate to receive.
And very recently, I was also able to convince with my first major international project as a freelance designer at the beginning of this year: My design work for the Solis tractor series, which is produced in India and sold worldwide, made me one of the top ten nominees for the Creative Business Award, which the most creative business idea in the state of Lower Austria.
