Chicago Athenaeum Names Good Design Winners
The 2009 jury was based out of New York and included Skidmore, Owings & Merrill partner Roger Duffy, Studio of Daniel Libeskind principal Yama Karim, and Knoll International president Joseph Mac Isaac.
By Staff -- Interior Design, January 7, 2010
Over 500 winners were named in the Windy City as the Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design once again teamed up with the European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies to announce their Good Design award selections.
The annual design awards are given to some of the world's top corporations in recognition of the very best product designs, branding, and graphics. This year, the jury, which was based out of New York and included Skidmore, Owings & Merrill partner Roger Duffy, Studio of Daniel Libeskind principal Yama Karim, and Knoll International president Joseph Mac Isaac, received a record number of submissions from thousand of design firms and companies in 35 countries.
Inscape's Tisch Table-based system
The awards were founded in 1950 by architects Eero Saarinen, Charles and Ray Eames, and Edgar Kaufmann, Jr. and encompass such projects as the Mars Landing Rover designed for a 2030 NASA Mars Space Mission and a simple water purification system for rural South African villages, both of which bagged honors this year. "The criteria for award selection follows the original historic Good Design program set forth in 1950, formulated by Saarinen and Eames, which is based on function and aesthetic, but with a contemporary emphasis for environmental concerns and green design," says Christian K. Narkiewicz-Laine, president of the Chicago Athenaeum and curator of the awards.
Screw.it, Salt.it, Pepper.it by Alessi
Companies from the United States, including 3M, Apple, Herman Miller, Knoll, Dell, Microsoft, and Intel, led the way with 378 awards in all categories, followed by Germany with 250 and Italy with 116. The categories included design innovation in electronics, medical equipment, transportation, furniture, textiles, energy systems, kitchen/appliances, floorcovering, household products, and lighting.
Bettina crystalline glassware by Alessi
"Good Design is a truly global program of phenomenal proportion," says Narkiewicz-Laine. "Despite the downturn in the economy and more bleak predictions for the near future, the 2009 Good Design program is the strongest program ever, with the largest-ever amount of corporate participation and the best and most substantial design awarded. This might be the beginning that signals the start that corporations and designers are changing their direction toward more sustainable and cost-effective design and less the use of flash and extravagance and a new understanding that the global market for consumer products is highly competitive and that only the strong will survive."
Click here for a complete list of the 2009 winners.
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