Blueprint Awards 2015: The winners
Blueprint Award for Design 2015
Winner: Konstantin Grcic
Nominated and voted for by Blueprint readers
Konstantin Grcic trained as a cabinet maker at the John Makepeace School in Dorset before studying Design at the Royal College of Art in London. Since setting up his own practice Konstantin Grcic Industrial Design (KGID) in Munich in 1991, he has developed furniture, products and lighting for some of the leading companies in the design field, including: ClassiCon, Flos, Laufen, Magis, Mattiazzi, Muji, Nespresso, Plank, Serafino Zani and Vitra. Over the last year or so alone, he has created a pavilion out of old TT sports car doors for Audi at Design Miami/Basel, the swivel Rival chair for Artek, the Tuffy chair for Magis, a wooden bench for Mattiazzi, the SAM SON chair for Magis and his first bathroom collection for Laufen.
Grcic has curated a number of exhibitions such as DESIGN-REAL for The Serpentine Gallery, London (2009) as well as the design of the German Pavilion at the 13th Architecture Biennale in Venice (2012). Last year the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein presented the largest solo exhibition of Grcic's work to date.
Grcic says he defines 'function in human terms, combining formal strictness with considerable mental acuity and humour'. Each of his products is characterised by careful research into the history of design and architecture and his passion for technology and materials. Known for his pared-down, functional pieces, Grcic is often called a minimalist but the designer himself prefers to call it simplicity.
Nominations
Ron Arad
Konstantin Grcic
Thomas Heatherwick Studio
Richard Seymour
Category sponsored by Sottini
Main image: Julian Baumann