Red Dot Award: Product Design 2015 - Prof. Martin Beeh, Tapani Hyvönen and Simon Ong are in the jury
The Red Dot stands for top achievements in design all over the world. The sought-after seal of quality is awarded to companies that bring products to the market which set global standards in terms of their attractive design, ease of use and functionality. For 60 years now, these products have been selected each year by a jury of independent design experts. This year, the expert group comprises 38 design professionals, among them Prof. Martin Beeh, Tapani Hyvönen and Simon Ong.
Professor Martin Beeh is a graduate in Industrial Design from the Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences in Germany and the ENSCI-Les Ateliers, Paris, and completed a postgraduate course in business administration. In 1995, he became design coordinator at Décathlon in Lille/France, in 1997 senior designer at Electrolux Industrial Design Center Nuremberg and Stockholm and furthermore became design manager at Electrolux Industrial Design Center Pordenone/Italy, in 2001. He is a laureate of several design awards as well as founder and director of the renowned student design competition “Electrolux Design Lab”. In the year 2006 he became general manager of the German office of the material library Material ConneXion in Cologne. Three years later, he founded the design office beeh_innovation. He focuses on Industrial Design, Design Management, Design Thinking and Material Innovation. Martin Beeh lectured at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen and at the University of Applied Sciences Schwäbisch Gmünd. Since 2012, he is professor for design management at the University of Applied Science Ostwestfalen-Lippe in Lemgo/Germany.
In 1974, Tapani Hyvönen graduated as an industrial designer from the University of Art and Design Helsinki, present-day Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture. He began his professional career in 1973, founded his own design agency “Destem Ltd.” in 1976 and was co-founder of ED-Design Ltd. in 1990. Hyvönen with some exceptions has served as CEO and president of both agencies from 1976 to 2013. He was amongst others involved into the process of developing the first mobile phones with Nokia. Since its launch, it has been one of the largest product design agencies in the Nordic countries with clients such as Nokia, Polar Electro, Elektrobit, and Mirion Technologies. After leaving the management duties in ED-Design Ltd. in late 2013, he started to share his experience by working in different educational organisations. In 2014, he served as a visiting professor in Guangdong University of Technology, School of Art and Design, Guangzhou, China. Tapani Hyvönen’s numerous positions of trust in the field have included a membership in the Advisory Board of the Design Leadership Programme at the Department of Product and Strategic Design of the University of Art and Design Helsinki from 1989 to 2000. Furthermore, he has been a board member of the Design Forum Finland from 1998 to 2002 and of the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design from 1999 to 2003 and from 2009 to 2013. Additionally, he has been the president of Ornamo, the Finnish Association of Designers from 2009 to 2012. Since 2003, he is member of the Finnish-Swedish Design Academy and board member of the Finnish Design Museum since 2011.
Simon Ong, born in Singapore in 1953, holds a Master’s degree in design from the University of New South Wales and an MBA from the University of South Australia. He is the group managing director and co-founder of Kingsmen Creatives Ltd., a leading communication design and production group with 18 offices across the Asia Pacific region and the Middle East. With more than 40 years of experience in design, Simon spearheads the group’s strategic planning, creative standards and its day-to-day management. Under his creative direction, Kingsmen’s design team has won several awards such as the President’s Design Award, SRA Best Retail Concept Award, SFIA Hall of Fame and the Promising Brand Award in Singapore, as well as the A.R.E. Retail Design Award and RDI International Store Design Award in USA. Simon is actively involved in the creative industry as chairman of the design cluster in the Manpower, Skills & Training Council of Singapore Workforce Development Agency, is member of the advisory board of the Singapore Furniture Industries Council and School of Design & Environment at the National University of Singapore, Design Business Chamber Singapore and Interior Designers Confederation of Singapore. He is also an IDP member of the Design Singapore Council and once served as President of the Interior Designers Association.
