Red Dot Award: Product Design 2015 - Concentrated competence for households and kitchens: Robin Edman, Renke He and Wen-long Chen are in the jury
The annually international organised Red Dot Award: Product Design has been awarding products of good design quality for 60 years now. In its anniversary year, 31 categories provide space for the growing number of submissions. To be up to the product variety, Red Dot invited experts from different areas of expertise: Robin Edman, Professor Renke He and Wen-long Chen, who specialised in fields like households and kitchens, are part of the Red Dot jury 2015.
Robin Edman is the Chief Executive of SVID, Swedish Industrial Design Foundation since 2001. He is an industrial designer with a degree from Rhode Island School of Design. In 1981, Robin joined AB Electrolux Global Design organisation. In parallel, he also started his own design consultancy which he ran for eight years. In 1989, Robin joined Electrolux North American operation as Vice-President of Industrial Design for Frigidaire Company. During this period he initiated and ran Electrolux Global Concept Design Team for future forecasting of user needs. In 1997, Robin moved back to Stockholm as Vice President of Electrolux Global Design. Robin served on the board of Icsid (International Council of Societies of Industrial Design) 2003-2007, the last term as treasurer. Presently, Robin serves as the Vice President of BEDA (Bureau of European Design Associations), where he will become President in June 2015.
Professor Renke He, born in 1958, studied civil engineering and architecture at Hunan University. From 1987 to 1988, he was a visiting scholar at the Industrial Design Department of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen and, from 1998 to 1999, at North Carolina State University’s School of Design. Renke He is dean and professor of the School of Design at Hunan University in China and is also director of the Chinese Industrial Design Education Committee. Currently, he holds the position of vice chair of the China Industrial Design Association.
Wen-long Chen is CEO of the Taiwan Design Center and is designated “Taiwan’s Top Boss in Design”. With expertise in design management and product design, Chen has accumulated over 25 years of practical experience in the design industry. In 1988, he founded Nova Design with support and investment from Chinfon Trading Group, and has since led and completed hundreds of design projects. In response to clients’ needs, he utilised the “Design System Competitiveness” as the core value of development, established KMO (Knowledge Management Officer) system to oversee six branch offices in Asia, North America and Europe, and invested millions of dollars in most advanced facilities. Today, Nova Design has over 200 employees worldwide, and has won over 100 international design awards since 2006. Wen-long Chen was appointed the CEO of Taiwan Design Center in 2013, and continues to propel the development of Taiwan’s design industry using “Design x Knowledge Management”, striving to shape Taiwan into a powerful design force in the world.
