Core77 Design Awards

The product design powerhouse Core77 is hosting their first annual Design Awards. With this venture, Core77 has re-imagined the entire design competition process and judging platform.

The initial registration process is completely free and noncommittal. Core77 will even send you a limited-edition poster, while supplies last and designed by Studio Lin, for registering early.

The design competition is subdivided into several different categories and each category has a Jury Captain from 13 different cities in 8 countries. Each jury captain is an expert in their category and will assemble a team of four local jurists. This will ensure fair and non-bureaucratic judging.

Another way the Core77 Design Awards goes against the grain is the fact that each entrant is urged submit a video testimonial about the design. This spin on Andy Warhol's 15 Minutes of Fame is not required but strongly recommended.

The competition categories include:

• Products / Equipment
• Soft Goods / Apparel
• Furniture / Lighting
• Interiors / Exhibition
• Graphics / Branding / Identity
• Packaging
• Interactive / Web / Mobile
• Service Design
• Transportation
• Design for Social Impact
• Design Education Initiative
• Strategy / Research
• Speculative Objects / Concepts
• DIY / Hack / Mod
• Never Saw the Light of Day

Sign up for the Design Awards here. I've already registered Denzinger Design for the competition and can't wait to get started. Design on.

Herman Miller SAYL Chair

To keep with the recent theme of designs by Yves Behar, I'd like to speak about his new chair for Herman Miller. From the very iconic Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman to the more recent Aeron Chair, Herman Miller has been a staple in high end office furniture design for decades.

Aligning with this tradition, Yves Behar has brought us a very affordable, forward thinking, and eco friendly chair with the Herman Miller name badge.

The chair sports a frameless back with a flexible and airy web of material making it up. This back is inspired by suspension bridges and features flexibility and tension in key areas for optimal support. This forward thinking ideology also makes for less material and reduced shipping cost.

The $399 price tag makes me want to throw away the busted chair I have at work and pick one up. Check out the website for more details.

California Desk

Furniture is an arm of product design that has always fascinated me. Designers can be extremely creative with it and do not have to deal with as many constraints as other forms of design. Two classmates and I designed and built a chair with a detachable ottoman my sophomore year of design school and had a blast doing it. After countless hours in the wood shop, we found ourselves with a piece of furniture that we were very proud of. J. Rusten Furniture Studio in San Francisco has taken furniture to the next level with the California Desk.

The desk screams California pride and is constructed from salvaged Claro walnut. The beautiful wavy grain of the wood compliments the asymmetrical California coast line.

For more information, check out J. Rusten. If I ever open my own design firm, this would be my conference table.