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DESIGNS OF THE YEAR 2012

By Ray Hu - February 10, 2012

Designs of the Year 2012 Designs of the Year is the Design Museum’s annual exploration of the most innovative, interesting and forward-looking work in design of all kinds, from around the world.
www.designsoftheyear.com Cemal Okten 1 of 60

Chassis The Chassis is a multi-purpose chair formed from a sheet steel frame and crafted using innovative technology. The chair is lightweight and covered with a replaceable shell of finely grained 4mm-thick polypropylene.
Designed by: Stefan Diez
www.stefan-diez.com Cemal Okten 2 of 60

Chassis In the production process an industrial press forms and stretches the pre-cut, fine sheet metal to make the seat and backrest frame. A robot then welds the frame, connecting the laser-cut pieces to the legs before powder coating them.
Designed by: Stefan Diez
www.stefan-diez.com Cemal Okten 3 of 60

1.3 Chair Inspired by wooden British bomber the De Havilland DH 98 Mosquito, the 1.3 Chair is constructed from compressed balsa wood with a hardwood veneer to give structural stability.
Designed by: Kihyun Kim
www.kihyunkimdesign.com Cemal Okten 4 of 60

1.3 Chair At only 1.28 kilograms the chair is even lighter than Gio Ponti's 1957 Superleggera chair which weighed in at 1.7 kilograms.
Designed by: Kihyun Kim
www.kihyunkimdesign.com Cemal Okten 5 of 60

JAMBOX JAMBOX is a portable Bluetooth wireless audio speaker and speakerphone. Compact enough to fit into a small bag or even a pocket, this sleek speaker employs the latest noise cancelling technology and generates a powerful sound loud enough to fill a room. With a ten-hour battery life, JAMBOX also features a smart rubber casing with a faceted metal grill that covers the front, back and side faces.
Designed by: Yves Behar
jawbone.com/speakers/jambox/overview Cemal Okten 6 of 60

TMA-1 Pared down in appearance but robust in performance, these matt black headphones were developed and tested by 25 professional DJs. A bold simplicity of design belies a complex, highly-crafted headset that includes injection molded nylon and 40mm closed titanium drivers that enable the highest possible sound quality.
Designed by: KIBiSi
www.kibisi.com Cemal Okten 7 of 60

Melissa + Gaetano Pesce boot and flp flop A flip flop and boot formed from a series of plastic discs connected only by their edges. This structure, using patented Miliflex plastic, which is an especially elastic material, is breathable yet completely covers the foot.
Designed by: Gaetano Pesce
www.gaetanopesce.com Cemal Okten 8 of 60

Melissa + Gaetano Pesce boot and flp flop The design allows for the wearer to cut away some of the discs to create their own individual footwear.
Designed by: Gaetano Pesce
www.gaetanopesce.com Cemal Okten 9 of 60

Nest Learning Thermostat Nest is a high-tech thermostat that uses inbuilt sensors, processing power and algorithms to learn the user's habits and programmed the household temperatures accordingly. The thermostat wirelessly links to the internet and can be re-set or controlled remotely by the phone or laptop.
Designed by: Nest
www.nest.com Cemal Okten 10 of 60

Lightwood Lightwood uses the least amount of wood possible to achieve a lightweight but strong dining chair.
Designed by: Jasper Morrison
www.jaspermorrison.com Cemal Okten 11 of 60

Lightwood The structure uses the minimum volume of wood but provides adequate joint strength by means of elaborate jointing techniques to ensure a long and useful life.
Designed by: Jasper Morrison
www.jaspermorrison.com Cemal Okten 12 of 60

Orb-it The Orb-it is a spherical hand-held cordless vacuum cleaner. Small and compact with a playful, engaging form, this vacuum is designed to make cleaning a less onerous task.
Designed by: Black and Decker
www.blackanddecker.co.uk/orb-it/ Cemal Okten 13 of 60

mia The mia is a tiny three-seater zero-emissions electric car aimed at the urban market. With a no frills aesthetic, the boxy mia features a central driving position and a spacious interior with sliding doors. Designed by former head of design at Volkswagen, Murat Gunak.
Designed by: Murat Gunak and David Wilkie
www.mia-electric.com Cemal Okten 14 of 60

Harbour Chair Designed to look equally at home in restaurants, cafes and around private dinner tables, the Harbour Chair combines the warmth and comfort of a solid wooden seat and back-hoop with the practicality and sturdiness of a tubular metal frame.
Designed by: Andre Klauser and Ed Carpenter
www.verygoodandproper.co.uk/shop/harbou-chair.html Cemal Okten 15 of 60

Harbour Chair An ash and powder-coated steel chair showing a Scandinavian influence and made with the modern computerised production technique, CNC machining.
Designed by: Andre Klauser and Ed Carpenter
www.verygoodandproper.co.uk/shop/harbou-chair.html Cemal Okten 16 of 60

Waver Waver is a comfortable armchair with a swivel base, featuring materials and construction inspired by outdoor sports equipment used for windsurfing and paragliding.
Designed by: Konstantin Grcic
konstantin-grcic.com Cemal Okten 17 of 60

Waver A lightweight fabric seat hangs snugly over the back of the cantilevered tubular steel frame and is suspended by two straps a the front.
Designed by: Konstantin Grcic
konstantin-grcic.com Cemal Okten 18 of 60

Carbon Black Carbon Black is a bespoke carbon fibre wheelchair that offers a high-tech alternative to the traditional wheelchair. Andrew Slorance, a wheelchair user, was inspired to produce a new model that did not look like a piece of medical equipment.
Designed by: Andrew Slorance Cemal Okten 19 of 60

Carbon Black Carbon fibre is lightweight and strong, but also warm to the touch and can be molded to attractive ergonomic forms.
Designed by: Andrew Slorance Cemal Okten 20 of 60

XXXX_Sofa Yuya Ushida has created a three-seater sofa that can be contracted into either a two-seater or a chair.
Designed by: Yuya Ushida
www.yuyavsdesign.com Cemal Okten 21 of 60

XXXX_Sofa Ushida was inspired by the repetition of geometric shapes to create a flexible sofa that uses a few simple component pieces of joint, ring and straight lengths.
Designed by: Yuya Ushida
www.yuyavsdesign.com Cemal Okten 22 of 60

XXXX_Sofa Adjustable to suit the size of the room, the sofa's form is functional and has an abstract transparent beauty.
Designed by: Yuya Ushida
www.yuyavsdesign.com Cemal Okten 23 of 60

Not So Expanded Polystyrene (NSEPS) SILO researched and experimented with making EPS, or expanded polystyrene - a material widely used for packaging fragile goods - more rigid and long lasting.
Designed by: Attua Aparicio & Oscar Wanless at SILO
www.silostudio.net/home.html Cemal Okten 24 of 60

Not So Expanded Polystyrene (NSEPS) Instead of expensive metal moulds usually used for mass production, the designers fill one-off hand sewn textile moulds with coloured polystyrene granules, which they then steam in order to expand the polystyrene.
Designed by: Attua Aparicio & Oscar Wanless at SILO
www.silostudio.net/home.html Cemal Okten 25 of 60

Not So Expanded Polystyrene (NSEPS) Inflated and hardened, the fabric mould is removed revealing the pixelated texture of what they have termed NSEPS, or not so expanded polystyrene.
Designed by: Attua Aparicio & Oscar Wanless at SILO
www.silostudio.net/home.html Cemal Okten 26 of 60

Exhibition Space Designs of the Year is the Design Museum's annual exploration of the most innovative, interesting and forward-looking work in design of all kinds, from around the world.
www.designsoftheyear.com Cemal Okten 27 of 60

Exhibition Space Designs of the Year is the Design Museum’s annual exploration of the most innovative, interesting and forward-looking work in design of all kinds, from around the world.
www.designsoftheyear.com Cemal Okten 28 of 60

Osso Four slabs of wood form the seat and back of this chair in solid oak, ash or maple. The paired down simplicity of this chair is achieved using digitally-controlled machinery alongside highly skilled handcraft techniques.
Designed by: Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec
www.bouroullec.com Cemal Okten 29 of 60

Osso With the Osso, the Bouroullecs have created a chair that celebrates the beauty of wood.
Designed by: Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec
www.bouroullec.com Cemal Okten 30 of 60

Botanica Botanica investigates and rediscovers materials from a pre-oil era. Early plastics like Bakelite were considered the material of the future, and now plastic is so ubiquitous that it has little value. The botanica collection is designed as if oil-based plastics had never been discovered.
Designed by: Studio Formafantasma
www.formafantasma.com Cemal Okten 31 of 60

Botanica Studio Formafantasma researched the pre-Bakelite period, discovering unexpected textures, materials and processes offered by natural polymers extracted from plants or animal derivatives.
Designed by: Studio Formafantasma
www.formafantasma.com Cemal Okten 32 of 60

Botanica Amongst the materials are the resins rosin, dammar and copal, as well as natural rubber, shellac and Bois Durci - a 19th century material composed of sawdust and animal blood.
Designed by: Studio Formafantasma
www.formafantasma.com Cemal Okten 33 of 60

Botanica The natural textures and honey-like colours of the resins are reminiscent of Bakelite objects.
Designed by: Studio Formafantasma
www.formafantasma.com Cemal Okten 34 of 60

Hemp Chair The prototype Hemp Chair is a cantilevered armchair molded as a single piece. Contoured folded lines add strength to the structure. The chair is manufactured with a process used in the car industry for door linings and glove compartments.
Designed by: Studio Aisslinger
www.aisslinger.de Cemal Okten 35 of 60

Moon Rock The Moon Rock series have tabletops which are covered in a decorative pattern inspired by the moon's craters and composition of the solar system.
Designed by: Bethan Laura Wood
www.woodlondon.co.uk Cemal Okten 36 of 60

Moon Rock The surface is created using marquetry techniques in which patterned plastic laminates - like those used on kitchen worktops - are cut and laid by hand in concentric rings and other shapes, forming a smooth surface.
Designed by: Bethan Laura Wood
www.woodlondon.co.uk Cemal Okten 37 of 60

A ready-to-wear collection of complex folded fabric forms, 132.5 was inspired by mathematics.
Designed by: Miyake Design Studio
www.isseymiyake.com Cemal Okten 38 of 60

The project is the work of Japanese fashion designer Issey Miyake's Reality Lab, a research and development team formed by Miyake. They worked with origami inventor and computer scientist Jun Mitani, who created a computer program to construct three-dimensional structures from a single piece of paper.
Designed by: Miyake Design Studio
www.isseymiyake.com Cemal Okten 39 of 60

To make the garment sustainable, Miyake's Reality Lab developed a fabric made of melted recycled plastic bottles, spinning threads from polyethylene teraphthalate, or PET.
Designed by: Miyake Design Studio
www.isseymiyake.com Cemal Okten 40 of 60

Tip Ton Tip Ton has two sitting positions. An informal comfortable chair transforms into a work chair in one easy forward tilting action. The chair remains stable in its new position.
Designed by: Edward Barber & Jay Osgerby
www.barberosgerby.com Cemal Okten 41 of 60

Tip Ton Tip Ton is a solid polypropylene chair, available in a broad colour range.
Designed by: Edward Barber & Jay Osgerby
www.barberosgerby.com Cemal Okten 42 of 60

White Collection The White Collection consists of four lights designed to allow the light itself to take centre stage, rather than the form of the fittings.
Designed by: Ville Kokkonen
www.artek.fi/company/designers/42 Cemal Okten 43 of 60

White Collection Elegant frames were created for the lights, using finely crafted birch veneer and plywood that was painted white and fitted with acrylic diffusers.
Designed by: Ville Kokkonen
www.artek.fi/company/designers/43 Cemal Okten 44 of 60

Mine Kafon Mine Kafon is a wind-powered landmine clearance device. This spherical structure rolls with the wind like a huge tumbleweed, its weight detonating the mines in its path.
Designed by: Massoud Hassani
massoudhassani.blogspot.com Cemal Okten 45 of 60

Earthquake Proof Table This is an earthquake-proof table designed for classrooms in countries where schools sit along geological rift lines and are not built to withstand an earthquake.
Designed by: Arthur Brutter and Ido Bruno Cemal Okten 46 of 60

Earthquake Proof Table Although able to withstand ceiling collapses, this simple table is light enough for two children to lift and move around, offering flexible use for a school's everyday needs.
Designed by: Arthur Brutter and Ido Bruno Cemal Okten 47 of 60

Redesign for the emergency ambulance The redesign of the emergency ambulance aims to improve the patient experience and enhance clinical efficiency. A digital communications and monitoring system can send information about the patient's condition ahead to the hospital.
Designed by: Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design and Vehicle Design
www.rca.ac.uk/Default.aspx?ContentId=0&CategoryId=36538 Cemal Okten 48 of 60

Redesign for the emergency ambulance In the new design, the stretcher is moved to the centre of the ambulance to allow 360-degree access to the patient.
Designed by: Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design and Vehicle Design
www.rca.ac.uk/Default.aspx?ContentId=0&CategoryId=36539 Cemal Okten 49 of 60

Redesign for the emergency ambulance Standardised treatment packs ensure efficiency as well as infection control, while the easy-to-clean and unintimidating interiors helps to increase patient comfort.
Designed by: Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design and Vehicle Design
www.rca.ac.uk/Default.aspx?ContentId=0&CategoryId=36540 Cemal Okten 50 of 60

Defibtech Lifeline VIEW Lifeline VIEW is an automated external defibrillator (AED) that can provide a life saving electric shock to restart or re-set the heart rhythm of a cardiac arrest victim.
Designed by: Defibtech
www.defibtech.com Cemal Okten 51 of 60

The Hepworth Wakefield, UK The Hepworth Wakefield is the biggest purpose-built gallery to be built in the UK since 1968. It houses the city's art collection and works by the locally born 20th century sculptor, Barbara Hepworth. Set on an island amid abandoned industrial mill buildings, the sculptural 360 degree form appears to rise directly from the river Calder.
Designed by: David Chipperfield Architects
www.davidchipperfield.co.uk Cemal Okten 52 of 60

Thixotropes Thixotropes is a moving sculpture comprised of a series of eight illuminated, mechanised structures. Each structure is an arrangement of intersecting geometric profiles constructed from thin steel banding lined with rows of LEDs. The constructions continuously spin on their axes 360 times per minute, creating the illusion that the linear structures are solid cones, spheres and ribbons of warm and cold light.
Designed by: Conny Freyer
troika.uk.com Cemal Okten 53 of 60

Olympic Torch 2012 The torch will be used to carry the Olympic Flame on a relay around the UK prior to the Olympic Games in July 2012.
Designed by: Edward Barber & Jay Osgerby
www.barberosgerby.com Cemal Okten 54 of 60

Olympic Torch 2012 The torch body is made up of four key elements in a single material. Inn and outer aluminium alloy skins are held in place by a cast aluminium top and base, while the skin is perforated by 8,000 circular holes - one to represent every bearer.
Designed by: Edward Barber & Jay Osgerby
www.barberosgerby.com Cemal Okten 55 of 60

Olympic Torch 2012 Barber Oscerby (Pictured) designed the torch to meet a demanding functional design brief and to reflect the celebratory nature of the games.
Designed by: Edward Barber & Jay Osgerby
www.barberosgerby.com Cemal Okten 56 of 60

Corona 1100 Corona 1100 are extruded disc-shaped wall lights in brass. Part of the Ascent Collection, inspired by the structures and engineered forms of boars and aircraft.
Designed by: Edward Barber & Jay Osgerby
www.barberosgerby.com Cemal Okten 57 of 60

Planform Array Planform Array are large chandeliers with paddle like segments arranged around a central axis. The paddles are covered in delicate, hand-sewn Japanese paper that hints at the structure beneath. Part of the Ascent collection.
Designed by: Edward Barber & Jay Osgerby
www.barberosgerby.com Cemal Okten 58 of 60

Ascent Collection Part of the Ascent Collection, inspired by the structures and engineered forms of boars and aircraft.
Designed by: Edward Barber & Jay Osgerby
www.barberosgerby.com Cemal Okten 59 of 60

The London Design Museum's annual exploration of the most innovative, interesting and forward-looking work in design of all kinds, from around the world.