Interview : Curator of Brit Insurance Designs of the Year

‘The Oscars of the design world’ have been showing the most innovative and forward thinking designs of the past year at the Design Museum with the overall winner to be announced on the 15th March. Before this happens we caught up with Alex Newson,  Curator of Brit Insurance Designs of the Year 2011 to get a bit of an idea as to how the show is put together and how the winners are decided.

 

Hi Alex, you are curating this years Design Awards Exhibition, what is your background?

I originally studied architecture, but never practiced and moved into museum work. I have worked with various design, technology, architecture and heritage organisations across the UK.

How important is design in our everyday lives?

Design – as a discipline – seems to have an ever widening scope and an increasingly influential role in shaping society. Design can fulfil this role literally by offering support to entire communities or providing life-saving solutions for developing countries. Alternatively, design solutions can be less conspicuous in their social impact but still offer equally important solutions to aspects of daily life, such as seating or general comfort. While this stress on social responsibility should not be underestimated, neither should the importance of beauty or a more consumer driven element to design, for these too can have a transformative effect on our lives.

Why are the design awards so important?

Awards are important for all kinds of reasons. It is important to reward excellence and to celebrate it. It is also important to raise awareness of design, to show people that design is taking place in situations and products where they may otherwise be unaware.

Annual awards are also a good barometer for current trends within a discipline and the wider world. Looking back at winners over a sustained period can highlight some interesting changes and developments from areas as wide ranging as consumerism, social order, the economy and sustainability to name but a few.

 

What do you look out for when judging a piece of design?

It is very hard to judge design, especially when comparing personal transport solutions against couture or a typeface.  Having said that, there are certain qualities, such as sustainability, aesthetics, impact on the user, innovation and originality that I always consider when evaluating design.

In your opinion what brand has given the most to design in the last 5 years?

While it’s perhaps the obvious choice, it is hard to look any further than Apple.  Apple’s symbiotic combination of design, engineering and marketing is reminiscent of Braun under the direction of Dieter Rams during its heydays in the 60s and 70s. By placing design right at the heart of product development they have created a succession of products, such as the iPhone and iPod, which have defined an archetype. Indeed it could be argued that with the iPad they have not merely created the best example of an existing archetype but invented a new one.

Which designer?

Yves Behar is a designer whose output is not only prolific but of a consistently high standard. While Behar and his San Fransico based studio, fuseproject, have a diverse list of accomplishments ranging from electric Superbikes to eco-pants there are two elements evident at the heart of all their work – sustainability and social responsibility.

Which brand are you most excited to see develop this year with their releases?

Hulger’s beautiful development of the low energy fluorescent light bulb, the Plumen, is the latest product by a company that has a smart and witty approach to reimagining existing ideas.

Which is one of your favourite pieces in the awards and why?

So hard to pick a favourite… but it is either the beautiful Branca chair Industrial Facility whose manufacturing involves a complex computer controlled robotic carving process which is a wonder to behold. Or the Plumen, which offers a solution to ugly but essential low energy lighting, and in the process created a product so striking that it threatens to make all lamp shades redundant – at least it has in my house.

If you could design anything what would it be?

Anything original that genuinely improves the users quality of life – this may sound simplistic and like it sound be straightforward, but in reality is incredible difficult to achieve.

 

You can see Alex’s great curating work yourself at the Design Museum, London. The exhibition runs through until 7 August.