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“Design on Stage”: exhibition of international top achievements at the Red Dot Design Museum Essen

From emotional home robot to innovative sun umbrella to aesthetic chair: award-winning products from all fields of everyday life are currently in the focus of the Red Dot Design Museum in Essen, Germany. In the former boiler house of the Zollverein coal mine World Heritage Site, visitors discover the best products of the year in the exhibition “Design on Stage – Winners Red Dot Award: Product Design 2017” until 6 August. More than 1.000 innovations and well-designed products from 42 countries present the state of the art in industrial design.

Reinterpretation of classic products
Visitors are invited to touch and test many of the exhibits in order to assure themselves of the outstanding design quality – because good design becomes especially apparent in use. All exhibits, which can be seen in the exhibition, received a prize from the jury of the Red Dot Award. So did the garden umbrella “PALMA” (Red Dot: Best oft he Best 2017) which enthused the experts with its minimalist language of form and clever functionality. The umbrella by Belgian manufacturer Royal Botania opens and closes automatically and easily with a single hand movement. Likewise puristic is the “Piuma” chair (Red Dot: Best oft he Best 2017), designed by Piero Lissoni for Kartell. Based on innovations in material and manufacturing process, the reinterpretation of a classic form, which is ultra-light and at the same time very stable, emerged.

Emotional home robot
Technology fans get their money’s worth, too. While robots are already well-established in the industry, they are now conquering further areas of life: In many households, the intelligent helpers already take over lawnmowing, window cleaning and hoovering. “Zenbo” (Red Dot 2017), for example, can support seniors in their everyday life and entertain children with games. The home robot by ASUSTeK Computer from Taiwan follows voice commands, takes over the security surveillance of the home and serves as a central control unit for connected devices. Its face functions as a touchscreen and can express a range of emotions. This and many more top design products can be seen in the Red Dot Design Museum Essen until 6 August 2017.