By Gabrielle Kennedy /asdf 16-02-2012

It was of little surprise to anyone present when Rietveld Landscape was announced the winner of the 2011 Rotterdam Design Prize for “Vacant NL, where architecture meets ideas”.  It was the Lego-like nominee everyone had pegged as the obvious front-runner and despite some stiff competition was certainly the most complete project that met every criterion the jury sought.

“I can’t say we were as impressed by all the projects equally,” admitted Lars Müller owner of owner of Lars Müller Publishers in the unusually honest (in the world of design) debate that preceded the announcement.  “We were looking for work that possessed a political and social statement and which held a view to the future … because when politics becomes crazy people should be conscious and aware in order to feel safer.”

“’Vacant NL’ is a political and urgent idea,” Müller said.  “It is a brilliant concept to support cultural and social businesses with space instead of money when money is running so short.”

Sebastian Wrong, designer and creative director of Established & Sons, called the project “simple, poignant and effective” – a fairly apt way to describe the essence of Dutch design.  

“I think designers should have a political agenda,” Wrong went on to assert,  “and with the gap between design and politics closing, the nature of this particular project will inevitably face further discussion.”

Susan Szenasy, a brilliant old-school New Yorker and editor-in-chief of Metropolis Magazine has an infectious enthusiasm for everything design.

Her onstage excitement for "Microscopic Opera" by Matthijs Munnik led many in the audience to momentarily believe that it could perhaps be the surprise winner.  “It is science and design and shows how we can see things in a new way using technology,” she said.  “It is making the invisible visible.”

“I really did love it,” she told me after the debate.  “It had everything, but perhaps needed to show a little bit more – a bigger screen, more sounds … I think probably it also just needed more time.”

And although the Rietveld Landscape work was ultimately the unanimous favourite amongst the jurors, they were all enamoured by "Microscopic Opera" for how it so brilliantly communicates an understanding of the physical world through observation.

“It was very poetic and had a sense of drama and beauty,” Wrong said.  “I’d like to see more because it really is relevant. It is science, art and design and is successful at all three.”

"Catalogtree" was another jury favourite.  “It was an informative, well-designed tool for communicating a complicated message,” said Müller who seemed to be most impressed by projects that broadened the view on design and its potential. “It managed to deconstruct the crisis in a cohesive way.”

Szenasy was equally enthusiastic saying the project depicts how we will be looking at data in the future.

The WAAG Society was also praised for Open Design.  The jury agreed is was on the cutting edge and focused on provoking change.   And while they all agreed that open source design is nothing new, WAAG was taking it to the next level. Wrong also praised the work for encouraging creativity.

“Open source has been around for a while but now we have the tools to make it go global,” said Szenasy who went on to stress that the next big project for the subject is to design a business model that enables designers to make a living off the situation.

“It may no longer be about royalties,” she said, “but we still need a system to monetize it all and that has yet to be designed.”

There was equally a healthy dose of criticism.

“I was less impressed with this,” said Müller of Bart Hess’ projects.  “It is astonishing that you can blow into a screen and get forms, but the forms were not interesting to me.  I think this was more like art.”

Müller also said that just as an artist must show responsibility for his artistic freedom, a designer must show responsibility for his product.  “There has to be some realization about the utility of a design,” he said.  “To me design has to fulfil a certain utilitarian consciousness.”

Wrong and Szenasy agreed that Hess’ work employed a fascinating use of materials, but suffered from a certain inaccessibility.  

Müller, who thinks that fashion is difficult to judge against other disciplines, praised Monique van Heist for having a utilitarian aspect, for being sustainable and for refusing the rules of the market, but he also felt her work didn’t really live up to the promises purported by the concept.  “It looked a bit too much like a seasonal look in the end,” he said.

All three jurors agreed that Pieke Bergmans’ Light Blubs and Llove Hotel were beautiful but that the concepts, given what is going on in society, made them somewhat irrelevant.

Given the extreme diversity of projects up for contention, the judges were forced to be very consistent in their demands.  “It was a special challenge,” said Müller.  “We were judging concepts not products.”  

The Premsela Public Prize went to sentimental favourite Vlaamsch Broodhuys who beat out Philips MyAmbiance LED bulbs – the only traditional product nominated.   Philips used a last-minute email campaign to its employees to improve its vote count, but still could not topple the baker from his pedestal.

“Pure romanticism,” said Müller who was less convinced than others on the jury by the bread emporiums inclusion.  Szenasy seemed more sympathetic about how design and lifestyle be interchangeable, but joked that with low-carb diets being all the rage the bread house may soon lose its popularity. 


Images: small top page Rietveld Landscape, top main 2011 Rottedam Design Prize nominees,  Rietveld Landscape with Rotterdam mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb, and the jury Lars Müller, Sebastian Wrong and Susan Szenasy.

Add to favorites