Bayerischer Staatspreis für Nachwuchsdesigner

Appreciation of the winner
by Rido Busse

When the Bavarian Minister for the Economy and Traffic launched the State Prize for Young Designers in 1987, one professor at each of the universities invited to participate was responsible, together with his or her colleagues, for selecting three or four of the best diploma theses of the past year. These works then would be submitted by the respective graduates. Being nominated by their respective universities was already a distinction for the graduates. Such selection ensured the high quality of the submissions, which was demonstrated in the first two State Prize contests. Today, the universities handle nominations a bit more loosely. The result: the number of works submitted has increased, but the quality has not. It is better for a university’s reputation if it refrains from entering works rather than submitting diploma theses without filtering them in advance, leaving the organizer and the jurors feeling mocked. Without a doubt, the university is humiliated in such cases. The Bavarian State Prize is not intended to be awarded for works that represent nothing less than what design agencies have to do in 80 or 90% of the cases, namely, to “clean up” products that already exist. Professional design alone is not worth an award – there must be something extra.

The two winners have shown what this “extra” should look like. Henk Kosche’s concept could be titled “Pleasure through Light.” His device can be used to create multi-colored lights to design and decorate rooms. A halogen spot throws tightly bundled light through metallic filters that let some colors through (red, for example) and reflect others. This principle, in combination with mirrors, facilitates the creation and mix of all of the spectral colors which then can be projected onto a wall or ceiling. Inserting screens of lenses or pin diaphragms allows the playful creation of bizarre, picturesque colors and patterns. What makes this work so interesting for interior designers is its ability to redesign walls and ceilings through light, shapes and colors on a day-to-day basis. With its many functions, the quality of the design convinced the jury.

Appreciation of the winner
by Rido Busse

For his diploma thesis, Stephan Wolf developed three fans that he intended to be treated as one unit. The jury, however, did not pursue his line of thought and selected only one of the three prototypes. Two wires hung from wall to wall hold an electric motor at a distance of about 20cm. Equipped with the low-volt technology which has become increasingly popular the motor can be rearranged at will. On the vertical axis of the motor, a 2mm wire hangs almost to the floor and is tightened by means of a weight at the end. The fan-shaped element that has been placed symmetrically in approximately the middle of the wire provides for ventilation as soon as it is twisted. The fan looks like an object of art and could be manufactured in many models. Wolf’s simple yet clever concept of tightening the wire through the weight may be the foundation for an entirely new, decorative range of products that also offer a very useful technical feature. The concept has been presented in an appropriately functional model.