Good Design Awards Roundup

To recap: the 2007 Good Design Awards have been announced (and are not to be confused with the other Good Design Awards given out in Japan). There's hundreds of them, and they're all posted on a rather hideous website that makes us nostalgic for the days when we had a Compuserve account and an unhealthly obsession with Graphicwriter III. Below are some highlights from a few of the 20 categories. GRAPHICS/PACKAGING: Yves Behar and Tim Kennedy of fuseproject got a nod for their guest-designed issue of the literary magazine Zoetrope (but what about the issues designed by Marilyn Minter, Zaha Hadid, and Chip Kidd, we ask?). Hamburg-based Hoffmann Und Campe scooped up a whopping nine awards for their work for the likes of Mini and BMW. Agnes Wong, Diti Katona, and John Pylypczak of Concrete Design Communications won for their identity design for the Toronto restaurant Cava, which features a chef character who reminds us of Tin-Tin (hard to go wrong with Tin-Tin, we always say). That firm also picked up an award for their design of the Dwellish Canadian magazine Azure. FLOORCOVERING: Playfully organic designs ruled this category, with Tord Boontje winning for his Little Field of Flowers manufactured by Spain's Nanimarquina, and Mary-Ann "Queen of Felt" Williams of Illu Stration taking home an award for her Oak Leaves Modular System (pictured at left). In the spirit of the Bouroullecs' Algue, Williams' felt leaves can be configured and used in various ways, including as a rug, a wall panel, or a bed covering. FURNITURE: Architect Ben van Berkel won for his work for Gispen, and Karim Rashid took home awards for his Serpentine seating system and Poly chair for Bonaldo (in other categories, his Sike door handle for Martinelli and Cadmo lamp for Artemide also emerged victorious). Foster + Partners won for the 20-06 chair (crafted from 80% recycled aluminum), which the firm designed for the Smithsonian expansion in Washington, D.C. And then there's Atelier Mendini's Diadainconsupertrafra furniture, for which we can summon no other adjective than "Fauvist Gymboree." ELECTRONICS: This category just reminds us how much we really must get to Korea. Straight outta Seoul is Reigncom's iriver Mplayer (pictured above, at right), a buttonless mp3 player shaped like the three-dimensional head of Mickey Mouse and designed to be worn around the neck. It was originally commissioned by Disney for Hong Kong Disneyland. And really, if everyone has these little gizmos bobbing around their necks (did we mention that they have 1GB worth of storage?), how could it not be the happiest place on Earth?

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Good Design Awards Roundup

Stephanie Murg

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Stephanie Murg