A museum and an exploratorium – a slightly different type of museum
In the design museum in Essen, everything is slightly different from ‘normal’ museums. The entire exhibition changes once a year, after the selection of the winners of the Red Dot Award: Product Design, one of the most important international design competitions. Around 40 design experts convene in Essen once a year to decide which products will receive a distinction. They arrive at their decision after assessing the products and discussing them in detail. Those products are then presented in the Red Dot Design Museum for almost a year. Featuring roughly 1,500 products from all over the globe, the museum houses the world’s largest exhibition of contemporary design. Furthermore, many of the products exhibited can be touched and tried out. The museum has a special appeal, as the design products are displayed against a historical industrial backdrop, with the building making up part of the Zollverein UNESCO world heritage site.