Award ceremony for the Red Dot Design Award: big names on the international design scene celebrate in Essen

20 June 2023

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Around 2,000 international guests accepted the invitation from the Red Dot Design Award to celebrate the winners of this year’s competition on 19 June 2023. These included such well-known names in the industry as Alastair Curtis (Logitech), Robert Sachon (Bosch), Flavio Manzoni (Ferrari), Simon Kidd (Black Magic) and Petteri Masalin (Fiskars). 

Red Dot Gala in Essen’s opera house

The doors to the Aalto Theater opened at 5 p.m. for the first event of the evening: the Red Dot Gala. Professor Dr. Peter Zec, founder and CEO of Red Dot, was the host for the event. Together with the jurors Mårten Claesson, Adriana Monk and Gordon Bruce, he awarded the Red Dot Trophies to the laureates of the top distinction in the competition, the Red Dot: Best of the Best.

The Red Dot CEO summed up the event by saying: “The Red Dot Gala marks a special moment on the day of the award ceremony. Designers seldom receive the attention they deserve for their achievements. They often work behind the scenes for a brand, but they are responsible for products that accompany all of us in our everyday lives. It’s really great to receive a distinction for this. But to go one step further and walk onto a stage and be applauded for what you have created is truly unusual. It gives me great pleasure to be part of a moment like this. I would like to thank our participants for their trust in us, allowing us to create these special moments together.”

Nico Gerstmayer and the Aalto Ballett showed off their performing ability on stage. Gerstmayer played the piece “Attraction” by Emmanuel Séjourné on the Adams Alpha marimba, which won a distinction in the Red Dot Award: Product Design 2023. The Aalto Ballett entertained the audience with scenes from the piece “Mutual Comfort” by Edward Clug.

Honorary title for Hiroshi Ishibashi and Logitech Design

Hiroshi Ishibashi has devoted his entire career to recognising and championing the value of design. The legacy he commenced when working for his family’s company, Bridgestone, culminated in the opening of the Artizon Museum in 2020. In between were around 40 years of hard work in the companies he founded himself as well as with international partners. Hiroshi Ishibashi was awarded the 2023 Red Dot: Personality Prize for his dedication to championing design. The title of honour was bestowed on him a few weeks ago in Japan, but the celebrations for this unique honour took place again on a larger scale on stage at the Aalto Theater.

Alastair Curtis, Chief Design Officer of Logitech, accepted a special distinction as the “Radius” challenge cup was passed on to him by Peter Skillman, Global Head of Design at Philips. This means, the Logitech Design team can now officially call themselves Red Dot: Design Team of the Year 2023. They thus succeed the Philips Experience Design Team.

“In recent years, Alistair Curtis and his team have achieved a transformation in an already established and successful company, elevating Logitech from a tech brand to a design brand and making the company even more well known internationally as a result. This dedication to design and continuous work on extraordinary products is being recognised this year with the honorary title “Red Dot: Design Team of the Year”. I would like to congratulate them sincerely on this success”, said Peter Zec.

Designers’ Night in the Red Dot Design Museum – vernissage, party, beer garden

After the Red Dot Gala, the party continued until the early hours in the Red Dot Design Museum. The beer garden was especially popular in the hot weather, but the dance floor was also put to good use, with DJ CHRISSI D turning up the heat on proceedings.

During the after-show party, the winners also had the opportunity to discover their award-winning products in one of the three special exhibitions in the museum. This made them the first guests to visit the “Milestones in Contemporary Design” and “Design on Stage” exhibitions. The third exhibition is created by the Red Dot: Design Team of the Year itself. This year’s exhibition is entitled “Defy Logic – Der Logik trotzen”.

Away from the hustle and bustle of the party, the award-winning vehicles were exhibited in a dedicated space exclusively for the evening of the award ceremony. These included the Ferrari Vision Gran Turismo, smart #1 and Toyota Prius models. All eyes were also on the AMAZONE Pantera 7004, a self-propelled sprayer with a boom width over 36 metres in length. The agricultural machine held court in front of the Red Dot Design Museum, where the guests could walk up and admire it.

Press contact:

Red Dot Design Award
Birte Köppen
Phone +49 201 838885 35
media(at)red-dot.de

Press agency
GeSK Agency for Public Relations
Gabriele von Molitor
Phone +49 30 21750460
pr(at)gesk.berlin

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