Brit Insurance Designs of the Year

Brit Insurance Designs of the Year

12 February, 2009
by: SUSIE

It's cold as ice and it's raining (not men) so why not spend a happy hour or so at the Design Museum, basking in some of the hottest designs of 2008 at the Brit Insurance Designs of the Year exhibition. The competition, now in its second year, has replaced the controversial Designer of the Year Award – a significant semantic shift – and is currently showcasing its 100 shortlisted projects, divided across seven categories: architecture, fashion, furniture, graphics, interactive, product and transport.
   
The nominations were chosen by experts in each discipline – their enthusiastic quotations are an illuminating accompaniment to each display – and the category winners are judged by an illustrious international jury chaired by Alan Yentob. This is a celebration of incredible diversity – a treasure trove of things that are not only beautiful, but useful to boot. Because surely that's what excellent design is all about. It feels like a cross between a World's Fair and an episode of Tomorrow's World. There's genuine innovation among this international selection – a quality which requires far greater encouragement in this country – and a huge variety of responses to social, cultural, economic and environmental issues.

The 'Art or Design' debate is kicked off straight away with a video of the stunning Kinetic Sculpture by ART+COM at the BMW Museum, Münich. Consisting of 714 metal balls suspended from steel wires, the installation is described as 'a metaphorical translation of the process of form-finding in art and design'.


Weiki Somers Cloakroom, Boijmans Museum

The quality of fashion is patchy and the selection on display from Prada's Spring/Summer 09 collection hardly does much to support its description as 'experimental', but Louise Goldin has a certain futuristic charm and Basso & Brooke's exuberant prints are fantastic.

More exciting than the clothes, though, are the places to hang them. Tord Boontje's Fig Leaf Wardrobe, with over 600 ornate enamelled leaves, is a glorious tribute to old-fashioned manufacturing techniques. Sadly, the object itself is not on view at the Design Museum – we have to settle for a photograph and a small selection of the leaves – but it will go on display at the V&A this summer. Then comes Studio Weiki Somers' ingenious cloakroom for the Boijmans van Beuningen Museum, Holland. Wonderfully playful, but completely functional, this carousel hoists items of clothing up to ceiling height – the ultimate in security and space-saving.

Obviously, the list goes on and on, and I cannot. However, do keep an eye out for: the Aquaduct Concept Vehicle which sanitises water as you cycle; Trent Jansen's quietly brilliant 3D Stencil, sculpture's answer to street art; Baghdad Calling, a book, engaging in its physicality and content; the video for Radiohead's House of Cards which monkeys with traditional forms of visual perception; and the illusory elegance of the Surface Table, created with Formula One engineering.

Finally, the one thing that made me cry, 'Yes! I need that! I can't believe someone hasn't done this before!' was the SENZ XL Storm Umbrella. So cool. I want one I want one I want one. So why not head over to the Design Museum and pick your own favourites… before Yentob makes the decision for you.

Brit Insurance Designs of the Year exhibition runs from 12 Feb - 14 June and the awards ceremony takes place on 18 March at the Design Museum, www.designmuseum.org

Spoonfed is an events listing website that covers everything in London. Click here to see all exhibitions in the coming weeks.

SUSIE