Final Selection Jury Comments

Luisa Bocchietto - Former-president of the World Design Organizationtm (WDO) Luisa is an Italian-born architect, former president of the World Design Organization, and one of the final selection jurors at the Golden Pin Design Awards 2019. The industrial design expert graduated from the school of architecture at Politecnico in Milan and went on to be the president of the Industrial Design Association in Italy from 2008 to 2014. Her talk, “Design for Humanity” focuses on human-centred and sustainable design. Fittingly, Luisa’s interest in the Golden Pin Design Awards 2019 is sustainability in design. While she found some among the finalists’ work this year, she’s hopeful that sustainability will continue to be found in the future. Luisa also appreciates designers who incorporates natural materials as well as local culture in their work.

What are the criteria that you consider during judging process?

The whole process, starting from the design concept, choice of materials, sustainability of the production process and the final product, and the distribution to end users.

Please share what you consider to be the top elements of sustainability

Long-lasting products created to reduce waste, pollution, and usage of materials used in the production and circular economy.

There are various design awards going on in many parts of the world, do we still need more?

Yes, I think it is important to encourage people (in this case designers) to continue creating innovative designs and at the same time inspire others.

The World Design Organizationtm, among their many activities, had World Design Impact Prize, which challenged industrial designers to create a multidisciplinary project that would improve quality of life through their design.

The projects were committed to a solutions-focused approach, with responsible consumption and production. Some of the nominations had various concepts from as simple as a piece of plastic designed to curb the spread of Ebola, to a large, multicomponent structure aimed to generate clean energy. What the nominees have in common is their vision of a better world and their investment of time and energy to make that a reality.

Tony CHI: Founder of tonychi, the award-winning design practice based in New York

Award-winning designer, Tony Chi is the illustrious Taiwanese-american founder of NYC interior design firm tonychi, who also served on the Golden Pin Design Awards 2019 Final Selection jury. Chi’s design harnesses the intangible allure of time and place, and his wide-ranging portfolio includes iconic names like the Rosewood London, Intercontinental Geneva, Andaz Tokyo, Park Hyatt Shanghai, Rosewood Hong Kong and New York’s Carlyle Hotel.

Tony’s interest lies on self-reflection and the designer’s sense of purpose, or what he calls “the silent voice”. He sees a lot of design for preservation among this year’s finalists, in both tangible and intangible forms that relate to heritage and urban renewal.

What is your perception on design?

The last 35 years I have been talking about invisible design; making design disappear. Even my clients told me that I made their money disappear quickly (chuckles).

I think design should be felt, not seen. You can walk into an environment and feel good or feel awful. Design should be humble, meaning you feel the connection toward a product that you want to buy. I’d rather have the subtle voice of a product reaching out to me, making the connection. When you purchase a product, you want to keep it for a very long time; that’s what I meant about humbleness.

Design should also not be judged based on the surface, it is rather an opening act for many things to follow.

Please define what sustainability in design means to you

First, it is to make something potentially timeless. Timelessness is a challenge to time. What is glamourous today should be glamourous tomorrow.

Second, it’s the importance of scale. For example, China is not scaled for humans; the country is too big and it is difficult for me

to feel connected. The best scale is to have emotional engagement and sentimental connection. Taiwan, like countries in Europe, I feel a connection with. Scale to me is very sensible. All projects are sizable but I always break it to human size.

Overall, sustainability comes from the beauty within, not necessarily from the appearance. And I practice quite a bit on the humbleness and the sense of scale.

Please name the most crucial aspects of sustainability

1. We have to be mature 2. We have to be ethical since our ethical values are what will bring our differences in values closer. It is not that my taste is better than yours, it is our values that are different. I think ethical value is one possible way to eliminate this wasteful thinking on sustainability. 3. We have to have good education that starts from home