In one of the most renowned and hardest international design competitions, the red dot design award, the Air Purifier Ultraslim by 3M designed by Pininfarina has just received an honourable mention from the top-class expert jury. With more than 3,200 products submitted to the competition, the product clearly stands out from the masses, because this year the design experts for the first time awarded honourable mentions to those products which distinguished themselves with particularly successful design details. The festive awards presentation with more than 1,000 guests will take place in the Essen Opera House, the Aalto Theatre, on 23 June 2008.
"We are very proud of receiving an internationally recognized quality label of design such as the red dot - says Paolo Pininfarina, President and CEO of Pininfarina Extra. - The objectives of the project were to create an intuitive and unique product. The sensual shape of the object, cured in every detail, makes the product look like it is breathing, and a clear standout in the market. This product is one of many successful projects coming from the long lasting partnership between 3M and Pininfarina, such as video projectors Encore and Bravo".
"Successful products are in so far different from less successful products that they can survive in the real world," explains design expert Professor Dr. Peter Zec, initiator of the red dot design award. "Successful participation in a design competition can already be an initial sign of a product's later commercial success, because these competitions allow an objectification of otherwise often very subjective design decisions." Receiving an honourable mention in an internationally renowned design competition such as the red dot design award was therefore an important indicator whether a product had the potential to succeed internationally.
Products submitted to the red dot design award are assessed by an international jury consisting of renowned design experts. They examine and test the products and assess them according to criteria such as degree of innovation, functionality, ergonomics, longevity, ecological compatibility and clarity of function. This year companies from 51 countries with a total of 3,203 products faced the judgement of the jury.
The exhibition of the winning products in the red dot design museum
All award-winning and honoured products will be on display from 24 June to 27 July 2008 in the exhibition "Design on stage - winners red dot award: product design 2008" at the red dot design museum on the premises of the 'Zeche Zollverein' World Cultural Heritage Site. With approximately 1,500 products on more than 4,000 square metres, the red dot design museum houses the largest permanent exhibition of contemporary design worldwide.