designboom Announces The Design Prize 2019 Nominees, Opens Voting for Social Impact Award

Web magazine designboom has officially announced the nominees for all ten categories of THE DESIGN PRIZE 2019. This year marks the third edition of the Milan-based award program, which will help kick off the Milan Design Week festivities beginning next month. The annual program, energized by Italian energy company Edison and held in partnership with Triennale Milano, “recognizes both the extraordinary achievements and little sparks of beauty and delight that have emerged over the past 12 months.”

Some of the key categories for the prize include “Communication,” “Experimentation,” “Best Designer,” and “Social Impact,” the latter of which is open for online voting starting today. Out of the 900 submissions for the socially conscious accolade, THE DESIGN PRIZE has shortlisted three nominees for the public to choose between in order to crown the winner. Read about each project below and visit designboom’s website to learn more and cast a vote in the competition by March 24.

Ocean Cleanup by Boyan Slat (NL)

Described as “the world’s first ocean cleanup system,” Boyan Slat’s Ocean Cleanup utilizes a 2,000-foot-long plastic tube that is being tested on the water surface in the North Pacific. The technology intends to catch and concentrate plastic, and is estimated to be able to remove half of the Great Pacific garbage patch in five years compared to the thousands of years that conventional methods, such as vessels and nets, could take. However, while the vessel is not currently efficiently collecting garbage, the final design has been revised and is expected to be “close to making it work.”

Warka Water by Arturo Vittori (ITALY/ USA)

Arturo Vittori’s Warka Water aims to help bring portable water to Ethiopia, Haiti, Togo and Cameroon, an alternative to collecting drinking water from the river which may be full of pollutants. The concept will source water from the air through a specially constructed vessel that uses different materials depending on the environmental conditions. It also employs a unique structural concept that is meant to easily integrate into the lives of local villagers.

Forensic Architecture, Centre for Research Architecture at the Goldsmiths University of London (UK)

Forensic Architecture, an independent multidisciplinary research group, uses new architectural and media technologies to investigate “cases of state violence and violations of human rights around the world.” The firm draws upon research from site visits, lidar scanning, photogrammetry and ground-penetrating radar to put together digitally-enhanced evidence files that help entities such as international prosecutors and political and environmental justice groups.

Keep scrolling below to see the full list of nominees for all 10 categories of THE DESIGN PRIZE 2019.

For more in design, read about the leaked pricing for Virgil Abloh’s upcoming “MARKERAD” collection with IKEA.

SOCIAL IMPACT
- Ocean Cleanup, Boyan Slat (NL)
- Warka Water, Arturo Vittori (ITALY /US)
- Forensic Architecture, The Centre for Research Architecture, Goldsmiths, University of London
(UK)

DISTRIBUTION
- Apple Store in Milan, Foster and Partners (ITALY / UK)
- JINS (JAPAN)
- Nomad, Giorgio Pace and Nicolas Bellavance-Lecompte (ITALY / CANADA)

COMMUNICATION
- Virgil Abloh for Off-White™ and Louis Vuitton (USA)
- Gucci, Campagna Gucci SS18 Hallucination (ITALY)
- Hermes exhibition at the Museo Permanente in Milan and Gingle Games at Maison Hermès, Ginza store in Tokyo (FRANCE)

IN THE ARTISTIC REALM
- On Air by Tomas Saraceno at Palais de Tokyo in Paris (ARGENTINA)
- Digital Art Museum in Tokyo by Teamlab (JAPAN)
- Ethera by Edoardo Tresoldi at Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival (ITALY)

EXHIBITION
- V&A Dundee, Kengo Kuma (JAPAN/ UK)
- Night Fever at Vitra Design Museum, Konstantin Grcic (GERMANY)
- Freeing Architecture at Fondation Cartier, Junya Ishigami (JAPAN / FRANCE)

EXPERIMENTATION
- Formafantasma (ITALY)
- Max Lamb (UK)
- Michael Young (HK, CHINA / UK)

DESIGN CURATOR & DESIGN CRITIC
- Fun House Snarkitecture on show in Washington D.C by Maria Cristina Didero (ITALY)
- Hans Ulrich Obrist, Serpentine Galleries’ artistic director and Interview Marathon in Chicago
(CH)
- Manifesta 12, Andrés Jaque,Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli, Bregtje van der Haak, Mirjan Varadinis
in Palermo (ITALY)

BEST DESIGN NEWCOMER
- Sabine Marcelis (NL)
- Erez Nevi Pana (ISRAEL)
- New York Sunshine (USA)

BEST DESIGNER
- Michael Anastassiades (GREECE)
- Nendo (JAPAN)
- Patricia Urquiola (SPAIN / ITALY)

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT
- Michele De Lucchi (ITALY)
- Jasper Morrison (UK)
- Philippe Starck (FRANCE)