“Red Dot: Design Team of the Year” Award Goes to Hilti

The Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen in Essen, Germany honored the design team of Liechtenstein-based company Hilti with one of the highest honorary awards in the world of design: the “red dot: design team of the year 2010”. With this title, the red dot design award has in the past honored the teams of Apple, Audi, Bose, BMW, Sony, Nokia, and adidas, among others, for continuously innovative design achievements. The honoring of the Hilti design team took place at the awards presentation of the red dot award: product design in the Essen Opera House, the Aalto Theatre, past Monday.

“Seven seconds – that’s how long it takes professional tradespeople to make an initial judgement when using a new device,” explains Stephan Niehaus, chief-designer of the Hilti Corporation. That is seven seconds to instantly get a client enthusiastic about a new product. “We do everything possible to literally make the quality, performance, and reliability of our devices tangible. The aim is that customers perceive the passion that is in our machines and tools with different senses.” Today, design is the means of choice to express this added value without words. 

When Stephan Niehaus joins Hilti as chief-designer in 2003, product design is still strongly driven by technology. At this point solely the engineers and project managers determine the design of products. Niehaus starts working on a holistically oriented Hilti design line and defines processes that allow its implementation. He combines technical knowledge with design to emotionalise the brand. The goal is to create complete solutions with added value for the customer. In contrast to its competitors, Stephan Niehaus and his design team have thus managed to emotionalise products so that they not only inspire new customers, but also appeal to traditional buyers.

“Hilti design is so good because it promises exactly what the device ultimately delivers. Thus Hilti has managed with its excellent products to establish high design strength as well as continuity, while at the same time keeping a perfect balance between the differentiation from the competition and the establishment and strengthening of its own identity,” said Professor Dr. Peter Zec, initiator of the red dot design award and Senator of the international umbrella organisation of design, Icsid, explaining the selection of the design team of the year.

“We are delighted that our consistent, clear and expressive design language has also been recognised by an external expert jury. Receiving the title ‘red dot: design team of the year’ is a great honour and appreciation for everyone involved in the design of our products,” said Bo Risberg, Hilti CEO.

The special exhibition in the red dot design museum
Under the title “Hilti. Designed for Use” the design team of the year is presenting itself to the public with their own exhibition from July 6  to August 1, 2010 at the red dot design museum on the premises of the ‘Zeche Zollverein’ World Cultural Heritage site.

Simultaneously all award-winning products of the “red dot award: product design” competition will be presented in the special exhibition “Design on stage – winners red dot award: product design 2010”.

The red dot design award
With over 12,000 submissions in its categories red dot award: product design, red dot award: communication design, and red dot award: design concept, the red dot design award is one of the leading and largest design competitions in the world. Since 1955, Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen in Essen has selected and exhibited outstanding design quality on an annual basis.

The red dot gala
International guests, a spectacular awards presentation, two impressing special exhibitions, and a glamorous party – this year’s red dot gala was truly a top class event. More than 1,000 guests from all over the world had traveled to Essen, Germany on July 5, 2010, in order to take part in the awards presentation of the “red dot award: product design”, one of the largest and major international design competitions. Design stars, representatives of the media, business experts, and politicians celebrated the successful winners first at the festive honoring at the Aalto-Theater and then at the Designers’ Night at the red dot design museum.

The participation in this year’s product design competition has been greater and more international than ever before. Over 30 per cent more registrations compared to the previous year and 57 participating nations clearly show that excellent design can transcend borders. Particularly the large number of nations represented makes this competition a top class event,” summed up Professor Dr. Peter Zec, initiator of the red dot design award. Together with top-class special guests he presented the 45 best winners of the competition with the “red dot: best of the best” on the stage of the Aalto-Theater.

The upcoming generation of creative professionals received their distinction on stage, too:  under the motto “red dot young professionals” red dot had for the first time, with sponsorship from Bombay Sapphire, given fifty free registrations to the competition to young designers. 14 of the fifty entries managed to convince the demanding expert jury, who awarded the “red dot” eleven times and three “honorable mentions”.