Conclusions of the panel on the first internationally presented wemhöner award 2004:
When entering into a dialogue of this kind with the fresh creativity of young students and people starting their careers, the industry gets a superb chance to test the limits of what is feasible. New technologies, after all, have always led to new product designs at the point where, after an initial phase of awkward handling, the design reached solutions in the realm of meaning and total approach which met the limitations of technical possibilities. - And today? - Today, design goes beyond finding the beautiful form and is much more than simply the result of the technical production method. Design is more and more what gives a product the competitive edge, the ultimate personal product quality. Design, after all, will always be a way of interpreting the world in which we live and of experiencing it with all our senses, of defining our own point of view, even of reinventing ourselves.
In this sense, the entries submitted are a "powerful service" of the coming generation of designers, which will in turn instigate a no less "committed return" of the technology R & D teams, and some "intensive leg work" on the part of the industrial users. The ball is now in the other court ...
Editor in Chief of the trade magazine md -moebel interior design - International magazine of design, Leinfelden Echterdingen.
ad personam
Ulrich Büttner, born in 1956 in Dortmund, studied Architecture at the University of Applied Sciences in Brunswick. After some years in planning and construction practice, he moved on to journalism and is today the Editor in Chief of the trade magazine "md". His field of expertise is the international design and furniture design scene, and together with his team, he always tries to separate the chaff from the wheat. This responsible task is reflected in the monthly issues of the magazine, and is undertaken by the editors in a continuous analytical interchange with the multiple quality layers of industrial products. Regular attendance of the European Furniture trade shows, meetings with designers, as well as contacts with the manufacturers, are here playing a major role.
short statement
"In am welcoming the mutual cooperation between the Industry and the Universities. In my opinion, field experience and practical orientation are the mainstay for a well-founded education, which not only focuses on the continuous rehashing of theoretical knowledge. The students have to learn to take industrial manufacturing procedures into account, and also have to realize that only those projects show real marketing potential which support and utilize the possibilities of the company involved. All successful companies must, on the other hand, adapt their possibilities and objectives to what is feasible. The interchange with the fresh creativity of students and young people starting on their careers is a chance to regularly test the limits of what is feasible. The contest for the wemhöner award 2004 is just this kind of chance - for both sides!"
