News: a folding wheel (above) and the UK Government's redesigned website are among the seven category winners of the Designs of the Year Awards announced today by London's Design Museum.
The seven winners include digital category winner Gov.uk (above), which brings together all the UK Government's webpages into a single site, and the Morph folding wheel, winner of the transport category.
Ben Terrett, head of design at Government Digital Service, explained the design principles behind Gov.uk in an interview with Dezeen filmed at Design Indaba in Cape Town last month.
The architecture category was won by Tour Bois-le-Prêtre (above), a refurbished 1960s tower block in Paris designed by Frédéric Druot, Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal.
The winner in the furniture category is industrial designer Konstantin Grcic for his wooden Medici Chair (above) for Italian brand Mattiazzi, which he complemented this week in Milan with the launch of his Medici Stool and Table.
The Kit Yamoyo medicine container for developing countries (above) by ColaLife and PI Global won the product category, while John Morgan Studio's identity for the Venice Architecture Biennale (below) was named winner of the graphics category.
Director Lisa Immordino Vreeland was chosen in the fashion category for her documentary on influential fashion columnist and editor Diana Vreeland (below).
The overall winner will be announced on 16 April at an awards ceremony in London.
The Designs of the Year Awards are given annually by the Design Museum in London and all the shortlisted designs are on show at the museum until 7 July.
Past winners include the Olympic Torch by BarberOsgerby and the Plumen 001 light bulb by Hulger and Samuel Wilkinson.
Here's the press release from the Design Museum:
The Design Museum announces the seven category winners for the annual Designs of the Year Awards. The awards celebrate the best of international design from the last 12 months. The overall winner for the Design of The Year 2013 will be announced on Wednesday 16 April at an awards evening held at The Angler, South Place Hotel, London.
The seven category winners include GOV.UK, a new British government website which promises to revolutionise governmental online communications, bringing together different government websites into one single site making it a much easier and user friendly service. Other winners include the renovation and reimagining of a faded 1960s tower block in Paris, a landmark documentary an fashion icon Diana Vreeland, a reinvention of the wheel in the form of a unique folding wheel which can be applied to bicycles and wheelchairs and a chair constructed using the latest computer technology.
The Seven Category winners are:
» Architecture: Tour Bois-le-Prêtre, Paris - Designed by Frédéric Druot, Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal
» Digital: GOV.UK website – Designed by Government Digital Service
» Fashion: Diana Vreeland: The Eye has to Travel - Directed by Lisa Immordino Vreeland
» Furniture: Medici Chair - Designed by Konstantin Grcic for Mattiazzi
» Graphics: Venice Architecture Biennale identity – Designed by John Morgan Studio
» Products: Kit Yamoyo - Designed by ColaLife and PI Global
» Transport: Morph Folding Wheel - Designed by Vitamins for Maddak Inc.
Pete Collard, Curator of Designs of the Year comments: ‘Designs of the Year is the Design Museum’s authoritative review of the most innovative, forward-thinking and culturally relevant projects from the past twelve months. The work selected demonstrates the many ways in which design can transform our physical and cultural landscape.’
The seven winning designs will now compete for the overall Design of the Year 2013, to be announced on 16 April. The winning entries, along with all the shortlisted designs are on show at the Design Museum until 7 July.