KRONBERG, Germany--()--Braun, a member of the P&G family of brands (NYSE:PG), proudly announces the winners of the 18th edition of the internationally recognized and prestigious BraunPrize Industrial Design Awards. During a gala event on September 26, 2012, at Braun in Kronberg, Germany, winners were revealed for the following award categories: Exceptional Design Innovation, Sustainable Solutions, and Best Talent from Individual Countries around the World.
About the Judges:
This year’s BraunPrize Jury consisted of internationally renowned design experts Professor Naoto Fukusawa, Jane Fulton Suri, Professor Anne Bergner, Dr. Dirk Freund as Braun’s Head of R&D, and Professor Oliver Grabes as chairman of the jury and Braun’s Head of Design.
New Theme/Selection Process/Judging Criteria:
This year marks the first time that submissions have been broadened beyond traditional design students and that the design competition has been opened up to more innovators around the world, with 2,399 submissions from 73 countries worldwide, underscoring the global relevance of this BraunPrize evolution. Selected winners represented two groups: design students and design professionals or enthusiasts. All submissions had to bring to life the new theme of “Genius design for a better everyday.” A first for the competition, the aim was to create innovative products which will improve everyday life for consumers around the world.
The Prizes:
With an increased total prize fund of over $100,000 (USD) for all of the BraunPrize 2012 award winners, the two winning global design projects have each received a prize fund of $15,000. In addition to the total prize fund of $5,000 for each project, the three sustainability award winners will also receive the exclusive opportunity to participate at the internationally renowned 2013 ICSDCE conference in Toronto, Canada. The conference regularly brings together the leading academics, researchers and scholars to exchange cutting edge thinking and solutions around all aspects of sustainable design.
The Winners:
Exceptional Design Innovation Student – Sebastien Riechel, from Germany, was recognized in the design student category, for his dynamic evolution of a walking aid, a flexible walking aid aimed to respond to support structures that provides a more even distribution of body weight during walking to reduce the chance of a fall.
Exceptional Design Innovation Professional/Enthusiast – A newly introduced category this year, design professional, Oliver Klein, from Germany, was the inaugural winner. His unique submission consists of ‘Känguru,’ a baby carrier and bicycle seat in one, offering an ergonomic and safe way to move around by bicycle as well as a fluent transition to travelling on foot with a baby. The jury was most impressed by the design’s use of material, combining the hard and soft elements in a very simple way with an almost living, flexible material.
Professor Oliver Grabes, Braun’s Head of Design and Chairman of the BraunPrize jury commented: “The jury applauds every one of this year’s winners who all show a skill and passion for creating intuitive and exceptional product solutions to everyday challenges. We are inspired by the extraordinary growth and quality of submissions for this year’s BraunPrize and all of the finalists demonstrate a vision that challenges the norm to create innovative and practical designs.”
Recognising Leading Sustainable Solutions
Integrally connected to P&G’s Purpose and aim to support sustainability in all its operations and products, Braun inaugurated a new 2012 BraunPrize Sustainability Award. The award and merit of submissions focused on design projects with a particularly strong focus on sustainable solutions for everyday life. With such a high standard of entry, the jury selected two sustainability award winners in the student category:
1) Bruno Pagnoncelli, from Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, submitted his ‘Nucleario’ project, asserting a concept with poetic geo-engineering for forest restoration in degraded areas. Seedlings are dropped by helicopter on an industrial scale to give large coverage, minimum maintenance and maximum efficiency whilst using biodegradable materials.
2) UK Student Group with Jonathan Fraser, Julene Aguirre, Aran Dasan and Jacky Chung were recognized for their unusual project called ‘Ento’, which provides a roadmap for introducing edible insects into the Western diet, thus identifying alternatives to unsustainably produced protein.
On the professional’s side, the BraunPrize Sustainability Award recognized a group from Frog design, USA, consisting of Paul Bradley, Jonas Damon, David Gustfson, Jinseok Hwang, Ryan Wickre and Brian Wasson. Their ‘Revolver‘ design embraces a future beyond toxic back-up batteries and fossil fuel-generated power with the creation of a portable wind turbine that can generate up to 35 watts of power for charging personal electronics such as a laptop or camera.
Len Sauers, Vice President Global Sustainability at P&G praised all of the submissions for this new category: “Sustainability is in Braun’s DNA and finding a sustainable way of creating new, innovative products is one of P&G’s major objectives. These exceptional winning design concepts bring that ethos to life and show that if we take our responsibility to the world seriously we can make a real difference.”
Celebrating national talent around the world
Finally, 2012 also established national BraunPrize winners for the first time, highlighting the very best talent in individual countries around the globe. A total of fifteen national winners were selected for the student category, with another fifteen excellent concepts chosen for the new professional and enthusiast category.
Phil Duncan, Global Design Officer at P&G concluded: “P&G’s mission is to touch and improve the lives of consumers worldwide. The famous BraunPrize is achieving just that. As a showcase of outstanding industrial design it goes beyond nurturing and fostering talent, and makes design accessible to more people around the world.”
Included among attendees at the awards gala was P&G Chairman, President and CEO, Robert A. McDonald, who met with and congratulated the global winners.
For further information on the BraunPrize please visit http://www.braunprize.com or follow @Braun on Twitter and www.facebook.com/braun
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About the BraunPrize
Established in 1968, the BraunPrize was Germany’s first international competition to promote the work of young designers, highlight the importance of industrial design and promote innovative product ideas across the world. Please visit http://www.braunprize.com for the latest news and in-depth information about the BraunPrize.
About Braun
Braun, a subsidiary of Procter & Gamble founded in Germany in 1921, manufactures a wide variety of small domestic appliances that marry innovation, reliability and creative design. These range from electric shavers to beauty and hair care products. Braun products enjoy worldwide distribution. Please visit http://www.braun.com for the latest news and in-depth information about the Braun brand.
About Procter & Gamble
P&G serves approximately 4.6 billion people around the world with its brands. The Company has one of the strongest portfolios of trusted, quality, leadership brands, including Pampers®, Tide®, Ariel®, Always®, Whisper®, Pantene®, Mach3®, Bounty®, Dawn®, Fairy®, Gain®, Charmin®, Downy®, Lenor®, Iams®, Crest®, Oral-B®, Duracell®, Olay®, Head & Shoulders®, Wella®, Gillette®, Braun®, Fusion®, Ace®, Febreze®, Ambi Pur®, SK-II®, and Vicks®. The P&G community includes operations in approximately 75 countries worldwide. Please visit http://www.pg.com for the latest news and in-depth information about P&G and its brands.