The 2019 Golden Pin Design Award announced 30 Best Design winners and two Special Annual Award winners. The 30 winners consist of eight for product design, nine for communication design, 11 for spatial design and two for integration design. The two Special Annual Award winners are for Circular Design and Social Design.
The star-studded awards ceremony took place at Taipei’s Songshan Cultural and Creative Park. The Golden Pin Concept Design Award also unveiled three Best Design winners, who received the trophy and a combined cash prize of TWD$1.2 million (approximately Rp555 million) to help bring their concepts to life.
Indonesia Design was the only media partner from Indonesia to be invited and cover this coveted design award on 5 December 2019.
The Golden Pin Design Award 2019 grand ceremony brought the design community from all over the world together in one place, to celebrate the best designs of the year and help determine design trends for the future. The theme for this year’s awards is centred around the design industry’s role in implementing the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals under the theme “Gala @ 23:59”. Here is a list of some of the winners:
Golden Pin Design Award 2019 Best Design
Product Design
W Glass by Spring Pool Glass and Kiwico Corporation
These environmentally-friendly glasses are made by local Taiwanese craftsmen using recycled glass.
*Special Annual Award winner for Circular Design
Duo by Shenzhen HYM originals (China)
This modern vinyl record player is integrated with Amazon’s Alexa Voice Service. A unique creation perfectly complimenting the modern lifestyle.
Communication Design
The Guidebook of Marine Debris by RE-THINK Taiwan (Taiwan)
This book explores abstract beauty and awareness on the trash entering the oceans each year, to help gain knowledge about the world’s waste problem.
*Special Annual Award winner for Social Design
F2N Market Brand Identity by One Thousand Times Design Studio (China)
This poster is for F2N, a type of farmer’s market that promotes sustainability, ecological agriculture, food safety and environmental protection.
Scenery of Dialogue - Artist In Hospital by Eddie Wong Yui Chung (Hong Kong)
An exhibition by artists who took a residency in a hospital, highlighting the vital relationship between artists and medical staff, rehabilitators, patients and carers.
Integration Design
The Sound of Blooming by Luxury Logi Co (Taiwan)
This design draws inspiration from the cyclic forces of nature and splendid floral blossoms at a scale that is impossible in real life.
Spatial Design
The Wheel by Architects Uncharted (Taiwan)
This open and airy home exemplifies natural architecture, with all building materials obtained from nature, to help promote sustainability and reuse.
Life in Tree House by Soar Design Studio (Taiwan)
Emphasising an organic way of living, this space mimicks a treehouse and perfectly blends the indoor, outdoor and backyard areas altogether.
Owspace Bookstore by C.H.S Design Studio (Taiwan)
The design of this bookstore is inspired by the concept of a knowledge map, highlighting the range of books in the collection while creating a sense of continuity between each floor.
Golden Pin Concept Design Award 2019
Product Design - SOUND LAB
by Po-Han Wu and Min-Shuo Hsu (Taiwan)
This educational product helps explore how sound can be made in unconventional ways, allowing children to use their imagination to create their own musical instruments.
Communication Design - Weapon Font by Tin Han Lin, Return Design (Taiwan)
The concept of this font is inspired by ancient swords from the ancient Chinese Warring States period, strongly evoking the historic period.
Communication Design – Deadline by Yi-Meng Li (China)
This concept describes the alienation between people living in Chinese cities presented through abstract animation.
Final Selection Jury Comments
Luisa Bocchietto - Former-President of the World Design OrganizationTM (WDO)
Luisa is an Italian-born architect, former president of the World Design Organization, and one of the final selection jurors at the Golden Pin Design Awards 2019. The industrial design expert graduated from the school of architecture at Politecnico in Milan and went on to be the president of the Industrial Design Association in Italy from 2008 to 2014. Her talk, “Design for Humanity” focuses on human-centred and sustainable design.
Fittingly, Luisa’s interest in the Golden Pin Design Awards 2019 is sustainability in design. While she found some among the finalists’ work this year, she’s hopeful that sustainability will continue to be found in the future. Luisa also appreciates designers who incorporates natural materials as well as local culture in their work.
What are the criteria that you consider during judging process?
The whole process, starting from the design concept, choice of materials, sustainability of the production process and the final product, and the distribution to end users.
Please share what you consider to be the top elements of sustainability
Long-lasting products created to reduce waste, pollution, and usage of materials used in the production and circular economy.
There are various design awards going on in many parts of the world, do we still need more?
Yes, I think it is important to encourage people (in this case designers) to continue creating innovative designs and at the same time inspire others.
The World Design OrganizationTM, among their many activities, had World Design Impact Prize, which challenged industrial designers to create a multi-disciplinary project that would improve quality of life through their design.
The projects were committed to a solutions-focused approach, with responsible consumption and production. Some of the nominations had various concepts from as simple as a piece of plastic designed to curb the spread of Ebola, to a large, multi-component structure aimed to generate clean energy. What the nominees have in common is their vision of a better world and their investment of time and energy to make that a reality.
Tony CHI: Founder of tonychi, the award-winning design practice based in New York
Award-winning designer, Tony Chi is the illustrious Taiwanese-American founder of NYC interior design firm tonychi, who also served on the Golden Pin Design Awards 2019 Final Selection jury. Chi’s design harnesses the intangible allure of time and place, and his wide-ranging portfolio includes iconic names like the Rosewood London, Intercontinental Geneva, Andaz Tokyo, Park Hyatt Shanghai, Rosewood Hong Kong and New York’s Carlyle Hotel.
Tony’s interest lies on self-reflection and the designer’s sense of purpose, or what he calls “the silent voice”. He sees a lot of design for preservation among this year’s finalists, in both tangible and intangible forms that relate to heritage and urban renewal.
What is your perception on design?
The last 35 years I have been talking about invisible design; making design disappear. Even my clients told me that I made their money disappear quickly (chuckles).
I think design should be felt, not seen. You can walk into an environment and feel good or feel awful. Design should be humble, meaning you feel the connection toward a product that you want to buy. I’d rather have the subtle voice of a product reaching out to me, making the connection. When you purchase a product, you want to keep it for a very long time; that’s what I meant about humbleness.
Design should also not be judged based on the surface, it is rather an opening act for many things to follow.
Please define what sustainability in design means to you
First, it is to make something potentially timeless. Timelessness is a challenge to time. What is glamourous today should be glamourous tomorrow.
Second, it’s the importance of scale. For example, China is not scaled for humans; the country is too big and it is difficult for me to feel connected. The best scale is to have emotional engagement and sentimental connection. Taiwan, like countries in Europe, I feel a connection with. Scale to me is very sensible. All projects are sizable but I always break it to human size.
Overall, sustainability comes from the beauty within, not necessarily from the appearance. And I practice quite a bit on the humbleness and the sense of scale.
Please name the most crucial aspects of sustainability
- We have to be mature
- We have to be ethical since our ethical values are what will bring our differences in values closer. It is not that my taste is better than yours, it is our values that are different. I think ethical value is one possible way to eliminate this wasteful thinking on sustainability.
- We have to have good education that starts from home