Good Design
Sometimes, you don’t need a thesaurus when a simple phrase like “good design” says it all.
That’s why former MoMA curator Edgar Kaufmann, Jr., along with mid-century masters Eero Saarinen, George Nelson, Russel Wright, and Charles and Ray Eames established the Good Design awards in 1950 at the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design.
I would have passed these awards right by, if I hadn’t discovered an email from Walker Zanger when I was clearing my inbox today. The stone and tile company’s Sonja Mosaic collection, which is created with hand-cut marble and limestone, was honored in the 2008 awards.
More than 500 awards were given out to companies in 34 nations for everything from home-related design to electronics, robotics, medical devices, transportation, and graphics for branding. But let’s focus on home for now.
Soorikian Furniture’s lovely Woven Front Console won in its “effort to overcome the impenetrability of solid mass by treating wood as a fabric,” according to the catalog.
Philippe Starck’s Mr. Impossible Chair by Kartell, so named because of the advanced plastics technology it took to meld the seat and the frame in a translucent piece of furniture.
I love the Zentrix Shower Drainage, not only because it’s not the typical round drain with holes in it, but it allows for level access so no threshold for the shower is needed – perfect for people with mobility problems.
This Bulthaup kitchen is amazing: a work bench in the middle that includes a sink, plus armoires that hold “appliances, crockery, tools, and ingredients.”
Mary-Ann Williams rocks for her laser-cut felt Lotus Flower rug.
(This is another of her rugs, so you can get a better idea of what they look like from a distance.)
I’ve seen walls covered in all manner of fabric, but blankets? This is too cool. By David Rockwell for Maya Romanoff.
This is what I need, a carafe to instantly chill down the warm white wine that just came home from the store.
I was excited to see John Pawson’s cookware win a design award – seeing as I blogged about it here last summer, great minds think alike.
Patricia Urquiola was honored for her Design Landscape tabletop series, in which one of seven different sculptural reliefs are etched into each piece. Wow.
Even the most humble of house wares – the dishcloth, was recognized. Eva Solo’s dish cloth is designed to stand on an attractive base when not in use – no more smelly dishcloths hanging off the side of the sink.
And it doesn’t get more workaday in the kitchen than with Pyrex and Tupperware. They also won design awards for the Teardrop bowl (Pyrex),
and the Allegra storage containers (Tupperware), although the American version might also be called Radiance, based on an Internet search.
Great post! Really love Soorikian Furniture’s Woven Front Console and the kitchen sink in the work bench. Very cool!