Awards 2006

In 2006, Design Flanders will be presenting the Henry van de Velde Awards & Labels for the thirteenth year running. Over the years, various minor changes have been made to the concept of the prizes, although the main objective has remained constant: reward creative and innovative design.

The 13th edition will see one drastic change. Until now, one of the most important prizes was the Henry van de Velde Award for Best Product. Products that have won this award include the Chaise Longue by Maarten Van Severen (1996), the Pouf by Quinze & Milan (2001), the Easy Rider by Danny Venlet for Bulo (2003), and the dinner service for airlines Più by Nedda El-Asmar for Duni (2004). Selecting one product and proclaiming it to be the best was never an easy task. It was always difficult to choose one product from some 80 entries from all sectors of applied art and design, in particular because all the objects often varied widely in character and intrinsic qualities.
This is why the Henry van de Velde Award for Best Product has been abandoned as from 2006. Instead of focusing on one product, we will now be awarding a quality label to a number of products which deserve the Henry van de Velde Label. For 2006, after careful consideration by an expert jury, this label will be awarded to 13 objects. The jury had to make a selection from 86 objects in total. The label will remain valid as long as the product is in production, which means that in the case of a unique item a label can only be awarded to that one item. If the label is awarded to an object that is mass-produced, it can be used until the object is withdrawn from production. The jury responsible for this task consisted of Steven Brouns, Leen Creve, Colette Demil, Patrick Hoet, Xavier Lust, Jos Peeters, Piet Stockmans, Johan Valcke and Inge Vranken.


The following objects will be awarded the Henry van de Velde Label 2006:
KSTK Miel Cardinael & Sven Goemaere (aM) Hallstand
Shadow Bart Goderis B.I.C.-Carpets Floor covering
Parfait Composé Hugo Meert Lighting
Fashion Chair Dirk Meylaerts Naked Chair
Cone Alain Monnens TossB Lighting
Jumpy Peyman Nadirzadeh Trestle
Imago NMBS Stefan Schöning NMBS House style
Forkbag Roel Vandebeek Gelpa Verpakkingen Chip bag
Woodstock Dirk Wynants Extremis Wooden rack
InUmbra Dirk Wynants Extremis Parasol
HTS Nedda El-Asmar Hermès Cutlery
InnerTube Sylvain Willenz Lighting
Stuff Sylvain Willenz Handbag

In addition to the Henry van de Velde Label, we will continue to give out the Henry van de Velde Awards for Career, Young Talent, Company and Public, as well as the Henry van de Velde | Dyson Young Design Award. The winners of the Henry van de Velde Awards for Career, Young Talent and Company will be selected by the expert group Design, chaired by Jan Van Broeckhoven. The public will award the Henry van de Velde Award from the Public during the exhibition.
The winner of The Henry van de Velde | Dyson Young Design Award 2006 is selected by James Dyson and Design Flanders. It is Pieter De Smul with the Ventra Shower.

The winner of the Henry van de Velde Award for Career 2006 is Tjok Dessauvage, who takes a functional shape as his point of departure, giving it an expressive and sculptural character. Dessauvage consciously opted for working with pots, the most archetypal shape in clay. He considers a pot as an object the wall of which can express dynamism, thus transforming it into an abstract sculpture that transcends its traditional, functional meaning. Until 1985, he produced mainly made open double-walled pots, but since then his pot sculptures have evolved into inaccessible, closed shapes, sometimes with a small hole at the top that still refers to the object’s original identity. Tjok Dessauvage has developed a highly individual language of form, which is now internationally recognised and appreciated.

Exceptionally, this year’s Henry van de Velde Award for Young Talent 2006 will not be awarded to an individual but to a professional duo. Jan W. Hespeel and Randoald Sabbe started their career independently, but they soon found one another in a similar feeling for style, typography, image treatment and sense of colour. In addition to being colleagues at the Hogeschool voor Wetenschap en Kunst - Departement Sint-Lucas Beeldende Kunst Gent, they also started working together in the field of graphic design. They often work for cultural institutions, such as Huis van Alijn, MAS and Bijloke. In 2002, Randoald Sabbe designed the posters for the Design Flanders Gallery (then still the VIZO Gallery). Jan W. Hespeel designs the invitations for and the proceedings of the “Design maakt het verschil” workshops for Design Flanders.

This year’s Henry van de Velde Award for a Company 2006 goes to Wolters, which 3 years ago embraced design in a unique way and which has subsequently achieved remarkable results. Together with such designers as Luc Vincent, Linde Hermans and Roel Vandebeek, they are changing the face of their own company and the look of Belgium and its neighbouring countries. Wolter proves that design can provide added value and that it offers an alternative to delocalisation. This not only benefits our economy but also the streetscape of our towns.

The Henry van de Velde Award Public 2005 goes to Tom De Vrieze, designer of the Serpentine gardenshower for Extremis. A majority of the visitors to the Henry van de Velde Awards 2005 preferred this object out of the group of objects in the exposition. This gardenshower can be easily moved to every spot in the garden, thus giving the needed refreshment on a hot summer day.