PRESS RELEASE. Shanghai, 20 September Home Style Award 2016: A mark of quality for the interior lifestyle industry

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1 PRESS RELEASE Shanghai, 20 September 2016 Home Style Award 2016: A mark of quality for the interior lifestyle industry On 20 September 2016, the Home Style Award 2016 celebrated its winners success in design and innovation during the award ceremony and banquet at the Wan Li Restaurant, Kerry Hotel. Invited by the organizer, Messe Frankfurt (Shanghai) Co Ltd., guests from the interior lifestyle industry, leading department stores in China and international buyers enjoyed a night of celebration and design excellence. An international jury group comprised of six high-profile experts gathered in Shanghai on 19 September 2016 to select the winners. This year, 226 entries from 19 countries were submitted under six categories: Kitchen / Tableware, Home Appliances, Furniture / Lighting, Bath, Stationery / Gifts and Textiles / Wall / Floor / Decoration. Over 30% of the entries came from outside China, indicating the relevance of the award in establishing a presence in the China market for designers and companies from overseas. A total of 60 entries were recognized with the Home Style Award And among all the winners, seven Home Style Gold Awards were given to honor the outstanding achievements in design and innovation. The Judges This year, the jury panel included Eddie Wei (Test Rite International Co., Ltd., Taiwan), Gen Suzuki (GEN SUZUKI STUDIO, Japan), Jamy Yang (YANG DESIGN, China), Mark Sanders (MAS Design Products Ltd., United Kingdom), Nicolette Naumann (Messe Frankfurt GmbH, Germany) and Rossana Hu (neri&hu design and research office, China).

2 Winners of the awards were determined based on following criteria: Aesthetics Execution Usability / Ergonomics Safety Target Group Fit Practicability Innovation Brand Fit Environmental Impact Home Style Gold Award winners 2016 at a glance: Name of Entry: Motoki Series Cookware cookware Category: 01 Kitchen / Tableware Design office: Taste plus cookware CO., LTD Client/Manufacturer: Taste plus cookware CO.,LTD Jury Statement: The set of cookware immediately caught my eye. It is a perfect solution for the Chinese way of cooking. The idea is new, very well done, and with a high level of design quality. Name of Entry: ezpz happy mats Category: 01 Kitchen / Tableware Design office: Sweets Family Client/Manufacturer: Sweets Family Jury Statement: It s a solution that s so obvious! That s what makes it so clever. The design solves a lot of problems of raising small children and is executed in a very effective way. It s fun. It s an attractive piece of product design. Name of Entry: Organic.s Ceramic tabletop artifacts Category: 01 Kitchen / Tableware Design office: RELATIVE.s Client/Manufacturer: RELATIVE.s Jury Statement: A very poetic design, that seems in between industrial products and crafts. It has a natural shape, and every detail fits into the design. The craft

3 finish and especially the stamps makes it so nice. Name of Entry: Four Seasons Glass Set tableware Category: 01 Kitchen / Tableware Design office: Life & Living International Limited Client/Manufacturer: Life & Living International Limited Jury Statement: The glass bowl and cups were chosen because they are an interpretation of traditional products, representing the seasons of the year in a very abstract, poetic way. This product has a unique beauty and a poetic touch. Name of Entry: The Prep, Rolling Mortar Kitchen Gadget Category: 01 Kitchen / Tableware Design office: Life & Living International Limited Client/Manufacturer: Life & Living International Limited Jury Statement: Genius! Why not have a donut shape for a spice grinder? It s easier to grip. That s great design! That s innovation! Name of Entry: New style meditation chair Chair Category: 03 Furniture / Lighting Design office: Ye Min creative furnishing Co.,Ltd Client/Manufacturer: Ye Min creative furnishing Co.,Ltd Jury Statement: It is a modern take on a traditional Chinese product. Good proportion adds to its quality. The folding extention caters to different needs and occasions, which makes it stands out. Name of Entry: SensoWash C shower toilet seat Category: 04 Bath Design office: Philippe Starck Client/Manufacturer: Duravit AG Jury Statement: The product comes from a well-respected brand with high design qualities. All aspects, such as the quality and design, of this product are very mature and impacable. >> Please find more details in the list of winners.

4 Jury Impression and Statements: Eddie Wei Position: Taiwan Assistant Vice President & Director of Product Design Test Rite International Co., Ltd. Eddie Wei is the Assistant Vice President and Product Design Director in Creative Design and Product Development Department at the Testrite Group, which operates two retail brands B&Q and HOLA. It is the largest trading company in Taiwan. Eddie is experienced in product design, design strategy, product development, design quality and design organization management. He obtained his master degree of industrial design at Shih Chien University, Taiwan, and has over 20 years experience in product design and design management in various industries. Eddie has also given lectures in different colleges for seven years in Taiwan. His impression: The participating entries cover a wide range of products, while the design and quality varies greatly. Most products take into consideration the aspects of consumer behavior and have understood the ultimate purpose of design.

5 Gen Suzuki Japan Position Founder Gen Suzuki Studio Before founding his own design studio in 2014, Gen Suzuki was part of the design team at IDEO. There he has worked in various fields of design ranging from consumer goods, furniture and electronics to healthcare. He earned his MA in Product Design from the Royal College of Art, London, and a BA from Kanazawa College Art in Japan, where he continues to lecture. His work has been widely recognized with numerous international awards, including the Best Newcomer Award at 100% Design London, several if DESIGN AWARDs and the Good Design Award. He was also featured in The Independent as One of the Young Designers to Watch. His impression: I was very impressed by the wide variation in the products participated. Some of the products quality is pretty high, which shows that China is undoubtedly a country of manufacturing in the world. In general, I was impressed with some great designs.

6 Jamy Yang China Position Founder YANG DESIGN Jamy Yang founded YANG DESIGN in Today, the agency is a leading design consultancy, with a forward-thinking approach based on local insights in China. In 2013, he founded the YANG DESIGN MUSEUM as China s first private industrial design museum. Jamy attended Zhejiang University and China Academy of Art, where he studied design for seven years. He completed his Industrial Design postgraduate studies in Germany on a full scholarship, going on to design for Siemens at their Munich headquarters. Jamy s fusion of innovation and craftsmanship has brought him international recognition in the form of nearly a hundred international design awards. Currently he is also a guest professor of Tongji University. His impression: In general, the design quality is quite good. There are more and more good designs and high quality products from China compared to the past. This impressed me the most.

7 Mark Sanders United Kingdom Position Founder MAS Design Products Ltd. Mark Sanders is the managing director of MAS Design, a product design and engineering consulting agency founded in the United Kingdom in After studying Industrial Design Engineering at the Royal College of Art, London, he began his career as an engineer at Rolls Royce. Mark also lectures design at different universities around the world. He has received numerous design awards for his products. His impression: I would say it s a very wide variation in the product categories and also, within these categories, the standards of design are quite nice. Through the process, we manage to work out all disagreement until we all came to a conclusion. And I think we came to the right decision overall. I was impressed by some of the entries, especially with gold entries.

8 Nicolette Naumann Germany Position Vice President Ambiente /Tendence Messe Frankfurt GmbH Nicolette Naumann is Business Unit Manager of the consumer goods trade fairs Ambiente and Tendence at Messe Frankfurt. After completing her university degree in Educational Studies and Sociology, she started her career at Messe Frankfurt: First as Press Officer for textile trade fairs, then as Facility Manager for consumer goods trade fairs and later as Business Unit Manager for innovation management. Her impression: Of course it s always very difficult to judge entries from very different product categories. And here we also have the additional challenge to compare products that were designed in a Western style with products with more Asian/Chinese influences. I think we had a good coverage of very different markets came up with very good results in the end.

9 Rossana Hu Taiwan (located in Shanghai) Position Founder neri&hu design and research office Rossana Hu is the co-founder of both the architecture Design Republic and neri&hu design and research office, located in Shanghai. The core vision of Design Republic is to apply a global worldview incorporating overlapping design disciplines towards a new paradigm in architecture. She also develops household product lines under the brand "neri&hu. Rossana has been featured in numerous media and recognized by a number of prestigious international design awards. She has been invited to lecture at Princeton University, University of California, Berkeley and Syracuse University. Rossana was named one of the 40 under 40 designers in Greater China by the PERSPECTIVE MAGAZINE. Her impression: The award has covered a diverse product range, which makes the award more interesting. Also, the award only accepts final products, rather than just concepts, which echoes and reflects the current state of design in China quite well. There is a big difference in design quality: we see exquisite and very nice products from companies with big names, and we also have smaller-scaled studios with limited resources and funds who still struggle and try very hard to design their own products. I m moved by their passion and dedication. Although China s design industry has just took off, it already attracts great attention worldwide, which makes it a perfect platform to nurture young design talent. Exhibitions From 20 to 22 September 2016, the award-winning products will be physically presented at the Home Style Pavilion at Shanghai New International Expo Center

10 and featured as one of the event highlights of the Interior Lifestyle China 2016, which is China s leading professional platform for creating brand awareness, launching new products and expanding market influence. An online exhibition of award winning products is available at the if WORLD DESIGN GUIDE, the largest design portal worldwide, and the official website of Interior Lifestyle China from 20 September For more information, please contact: Ms Amber Tung 董晏廷 if DESIGN ASIA Ltd. No. 133, Guangfu S. Rd., Xinyi Dist., Taipei 110, Taiwan Phone Fax amber.tung@ifdesign.tw ifworlddesignguide.com