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 Twelve Brazilian designers won the most important prize for the segment in the world, the International Design Excellence Award (IDEA), as it was announced last week in Washington, United States. In total, 53 designers from Brazil competed for the product design award.
Winning products from Brazil include a self-propelled agricultural pulverizer, by brand Parruda, which won bronze in the Commercial and Industrial Products category, the Max Door, bronze in the Household Products category, and the Celebrate Glass Duplo Forno double-oven stove, which also won bronze in the Household Products category.
Brazil was also awarded for the Super Bossa lighting fixture, which won silver in the Household Products category, and for the Ultra Alívio ("Ultra Relief") nebulizer, silver in the Medical and Scientific Products category, among others.
The Brazilian products that entered the contest were selected at the IDEA/Brazil, the Brazilian version of the award, promoted by non-governmental organization Objeto Brasil, in partnership with the Brazilian Export and Investment Promotion Agency (Apex-Brazil). It was the first national edition ever, held last May.
The national version was created to give recognition to the quality of design produced in the country. In its first edition, the project received 343 submissions from different sectors, ranging from aeronautics to furniture. The Objeto Brasil NGO was established 12 years ago to promote Brazilian design in Brazil and abroad.
Out of 1517 entries, 35 were awarded the coveted Gold award, while 77 received Silver awards and 93 won Bronze awards. For the first time this year, 389 finalists were named in addition to the winners.
For the first time in the history of the competition, the expert jury bestowed two "Best in Show" awards: one to SizeChina, a design research project that assembled data from a representative cross-section of people from mainland China to create the first-ever digital database of Chinese head and face shapes; and the other to Apple's now-iconic iPhone.
Showing a continuing upward trend in international participation, 109 designs from 25 countries outside the US were given an IDEA Award: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, People's Republic of China, Colombia, Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Iran, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey and the United Kingdom.
2008 also marked the inaugural year of IDEA/Brasil (www.ideabrasil.com.br), organized by Objeto Brasil and endorsed by IDSA, to spur interest in design from Brazilian corporations as well as to heighten global awareness of Brazil's rich design heritage. Out of 53 pre-judged Brazilian Finalists, 12 were honored with IDEA Awards, a remarkable success for the program's first year.
The 2008 IDEA jury, comprised of 20 world-renowned designers and design thinkers, spent weeks previewing entries online and two-and-a-half days of intense, face-to-face evaluation and debate on IDEA. Judging criteria for each entry focused on eight areas of industrial design excellence: design innovation; benefit to the user; benefit to the client/business; benefit to society; ecological responsibility; appropriate aesthetics and appeal; usability testing; rigor and reliability (Design Research category); and internal factors and methods, implementation (Design Strategy category).
A "People's Choice" award will also be presented when the winners are honored in a formal ceremony at the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix, Saturday, September 13, the final day of the anticipated 2008 IDSA National Conference & Education Symposium, followed by a gala celebration. Winners will be displayed in the Conference Design Gallery. All 205 winners with descriptions, photos and contacts will be
featured on the IDSA Web site www.idsa.org.
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Dewolfe