The category winners for the 2011 Brit Insurance Design Awards were announced today. Celebrating international design from the last 12 months, the seven categories winners of the fourth annual Brit Insurance Design Awards features winners from Sweden, Germany, Japan, Italy, USA and two from the UK. These seven winners will now contend to become the overall Brit Insurance Design of the Year 2011 which will be announced at the Design Museum on March 15.
The winners include London's TFL's Barclays Cycle Hire scheme which wins the Transport category, a popular and familiar feature across the capital since its introduction in the summer of 2010. Retail outlet Uniqlo's hugely successful Jil Sander collaboration +J Autumn / Winter 2010 collection wins the Fashion category and Ikea's intriguing take on baking with their Swedish recipe book presented in stunning visual style wins the Graphics category.
Innovative and accessible design was a recurring theme for the 2011 nominations, beautifully demonstrated with the Plumen low energy light bulb taking the Product award. The Flipboard app, for the Interactive category impressed judges as the world's first social magazine, fundamentally changing how people discover, view and share content across social networks. The elegant Branca chair designed by UK design practice Industrial Facility wins the Furniture category and the community focused Open Air Library in Germany takes the Architecture award.
"Anything that is made betrays the beliefs, preoccupations and fears of the people who made it," commented Stephen Bayley, Chair of the 2011 jury. "Never more than this year: there's a strong sense of austerity, responsibility and realism here. I wouldn't call it retrenchment, more consolidation. 2011 will be remembered for thoughtfulness rather than exuberance, but that's no bad thing. The best definition of design is, after all, intelligence made visible."
The seven Brit Insurance Design Awards category winners are:
Brit Insurance Architecture Award 2011
Open Air Library, Magdeburg. By Karo Architekten. Germany
Brit Insurance Fashion Award 2011
Uniqlo +J Autumn/Winter '10. By Jil Sander for Uniqlo. Japan
Brit Insurance Furniture Award 2011
Branca. By Industrial Facility, Sam Hecht, Kim Colin and Ippei Matsumoto. Italy
Brit Insurance Graphics Award 2011
Homemade is Best. By Forsman & Bodenfors for Ikea. Sweden
Brit Insurance Interactive Award 2011
Flipboard. By Mike McCue and Evan Doll. USA
Brit Insurance Product Award 2011
Plumen 001. By Hulger and Samuel Wilkinson. UK
Brit Insurance Transport Award 2011
Barclays Cycle Hire. By Transport for London. UK
The seven winning designs will now compete for the coveted overall Brit Insurance Design of the Year 2011 which will be announced at the Awards Lunch at the Design museum on March 15, where the winner will be presented with this year's awards trophy, exclusively designed by Ross Lovegrove.
The winning entries along with the shortlisted designs are currently on show at the Design Museum until August 7, 2011.