Awarding ceremony of the Red Dot Award: Design Concept 2016 – Celebration of outstanding design achievements
On 22 September 2016, the highlight of the Red Dot Award: Design Concept was celebrated – the Red Dot Gala. In a glamorous atmosphere, the winners of the Red Dot: Best of the Best and the Red Dot: Luminary were honoured on the stage and catwalk of the Red Dot Design Museum Singapore. Prof. Dr. Peter Zec, founder and CEO of Red Dot, and Ken Koo, President of Red Dot Asia handed over the trophies to the proud laureates.
This year, 4,698 concepts from 60 countries were entered in the competition. 340 of them honoured in the Red Dot Award: Concept Design 2016. 245 projects received the globally coveted Red Dot, 42 were awarded with the Red Dot: Best of the Best for their exceptional design excellence and 53 concepts were credited with an Honourable Mention.
“Each of the winning concepts represent a significant achievement on the part of the designer. The adjudication process is a particularly demanding one, with each concept subjected to intense scrutiny led by a critical set of jury members”, articulated Ken Koo as he spoke of the adjudication process. “Only 6% of all entries were awarded a Red Dot this year, making each awarded concept an outstanding feat of accomplishment. The Red Dot Award also seeks to open doors for designers, giving them more opportunities to bring realise their own work”.
Red Dot: Luminary
The Red Dot jury nominated four concepts from the 42 Red Dot: Best of the Best laureates for the Red Dot: Luminary, the highest level of recognition in the Red Dot Award: Design Concept. The four nominees were “Google Self-Driving Car” by Google, “ILY-I” by Aisin Seiki, “PAPIER - MACHINE” by ENSCI - Les Ateliers and “F 015 Luxury in Motion” by Mercedes-Benz.
This year’s Red Dot: Luminary was awarded to a design concept which is a forerunner in a new era of driverless cars: The “Google Self-Driving Car”. It was described by Red Dot juror Prof. Carlos Hinrichsen as “a mobility concept that has been already known, but is not any less revolutionary. It is changing what we now understand as mobility, and is shifting or transforming the paradigms in the automotive industry by integrating technology, design and innovation in the service of human beings to improving their daily lives.”
Prof. Dr. Peter Zec handed over the Red Dot: Luminary to the representatives from Google Inc. Ken Koo concluded the ceremony with the presentation of the winning works of 2016, entitled: “Exhibition: Future” at the Red Dot Design Museum Singapore. Furthermore, the Red Dot Design Concept Yearbook 2016 was launched on this evening. All winning concepts are also featured in the online presentation.
Designers’ Night
During the Designers’ Night, the official aftershow party, also the Honourable Mention and Red Dot winners received their certificates, while about 500 international guests celebrated in the midst of the winners’ exhibition in the museum. The jubilant mood of the winning designers, honoured guests and members of the press carried on to the wee hours.
