Red Dot trophy
Günter Wermekes impresses the initiator and CEO of the world’s most significant design prize
“The task of visualising the Red Dot Award was a great challenge for me. This is not just ‘any’ prize – it is probably one of the most significant awards presented in the design field,” says Günter Wermekes of the importance of this task and the creative process behind the new Red Dot Trophy.
Impressed by Wermekes’ spirit of innovation, it was clear from the outset to the initiator and CEO of the Red Dot Design Awards, Professor Dr. Peter Zec, that the multiple award-winning goldsmith and designer should also be tasked with designing the new trophy. “Günter Wermekes made a name for himself in top quality jewellery design many years ago,” says Zec. Wermekes was the first to unite the contrasting materials of stainless steel and brilliant-cut diamonds in one complete collection.
At the start of July 2015, winners of the Red Dot ‘Best of the Best’ were presented with the newly designed Red Dot trophy for the first time: in the new design, a total of 11 stainless steel rods form the basic structure of the 35cm high sculpture. They are secured in place on a black base to form an open semi-circle at the front. The so-called moiré effect is an artistically distinctive feature of the cylindrical trophy. It is created during movement of the object and is suggestive of dynamism. The Red Dot logo and information about the relevant prize-winner is featured on the front on a Plexiglas panel in an opening on the sculpture.
Günter Wermekes deliberately chose the material used in the Red Dot trophy and adapted it to the shape of the work of art: the element of stainless steel is a direct reference to the location of the Red Dot Design Museum, the ‘Design Zentrum’ North-Rhine Westphalia and the site of the Zollverein World Heritage Site. The use of the colour black in the Plexiglas panel reinforces the image and represents the early significance of coal in the Ruhr region.
At the end of September 2015, 80 trophies created by Wermekes were presented to the prize-winners of the ‘Red Dot Award: Design Concept’ in Singapore. And Günter Wermekes will be joining the judging panel of the ‘Red Dot Award: Product Design’ again in 2016.
