Essen/Germany, 10 June 2020

» Download press release

» Download press photos (ZIP file, ca. 18 MB, Source: Red Dot Design Museum)

From 23 June, the Red Dot Design Museum in Essen will present three new exhibitions showing award-winning design highlights from all areas of life. Every year, the exhibition by the Red Dot: Design Team of the Year is highly anticipated. This year’s honorary title went to the Fiskars Design Team, which creates designs for Europe’s second-oldest company and became famous above all else for its scissors and garden appliances with bright-orange elements. The exhibition “Onnellisuus/Happiness – designed by Fiskars” will be on show in the museum in Essen until 24 January 2021. The two exhibitions “Milestones in Contemporary Design” and “Design on Stage” will commence on the same date, featuring roughly 1,800 products in total and giving an overview of the state of the art in the world of design.

“Onnellisuus/Happiness – designed by Fiskars”

Making the everyday extraordinary – when Petteri Masalin, Creative Design Lead at Fiskars, and his team set to work, it is this goal that informs the entire design process. This attitude is also reflected in the exhibition title, “Onnellisuus”, the Finnish word for happiness. The special exhibition by the Red Dot: Design Team of the Year 2020 provides insights into the team’s work and design philosophy and highlights in an impressive manner the two factors primarily responsible for Fiskars’ pioneering design achievements. These are a language of form heavily influenced by the Nordic landscape and a high level of innovative power. They result in products for working indoors and outside that are convincing from an aesthetics perspective as well as in terms of use.

“Milestones in Contemporary Design 2020–2021” – the best products of the year

The special exhibition “Milestones in Contemporary Design 2020–2021” presents the 76 best products of 2020 – the current milestones in international product design. These include for example the Honda e, a small electric car that the jury for the Red Dot Award considers one of 2020’s truly great products despite its diminutive size. Both its design and the technology it features are ground-breaking. Another milestone is the Apple Pro Display XDR, with a rear view that boasts an innovative lattice design to improve functionality. Yet another are the electric bikes “VanMoof S3 and X3”, which are not only easy to ride but also even more user friendly thanks to a matrix display in the frame’s top tube and further functions. Additionally, the exhibition examines the question of the features a product must have in order to attain top design quality. 

“Design on Stage 2020–2021”

From Australia to Mexico and all the way to the Philippines – for a whole year, the Red Dot Design Museum will be hosting award-winning products from 60 countries, which of course include countries like Japan, Switzerland, Sweden, the USA and Germany that are traditionally strong on design. The approximately 1,800 exhibits, all winners in the Red Dot Award: Product Design 2020, come from all walks of life. Spread over five floors, the exhibition gives visitors a comprehensive overview of current product design trends and developments.

The exhibition begins with a short introduction to the most important principles of design. New remits for design in the age of digitalisation and Big Data are also presented here, through smart products and interfaces for example.

Note on the pandemic: There are currently special rules in place for visits to the museum. For example, face masks must be worn. For more information and up-to-date notices, see: www.red-dot-design-museum.org

Press contact:

Astrid Ruta | Konzept. Text. Redaktion.
Riesweg 38
45134 Essen, Germany
Phone: +49 201 85155470
museum@astridruta.de

Red Dot Design Museum Essen
Gelsenkirchener Straße 181
45309 Essen, Germany
Phone: +49 201 30104 60
Fax: +49 201 30104 40
museum@red-dot.de
www.red-dot-design-museum.org