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Norway’s strongest design projects
Minister Sylvia Brustad opened the exhibition showcasing the three nominees The Honour Award for Design Excellence 2009. From the left: Jan Trygve Jensen, general manager in Jensen, Fredrik Næs, technical manager, SeaBed Geophysical AS, Arnt Olaf Andressen, marketing manager in Øya og minister Sylvia Brustad. Foto: Johnny Syversen/The Norwegian Design Council
The Øya Festival, Jensen Furniture and SeaBed Geophysical are the final contestants for The Honours Award for Design Excellence 2009.
Norways best known festival logo, a deep-water sensor and a flexible bed. What do these very different products have in common? An extremely thorough design process!
The winners of the highly sought after Honours Award for Design Excellence will be announced Wednesday 11th of March, during the Design Day 2009. The Norwegian Design Council now make public which three design projects are nominated for The Honours Award for Design Excellence 2009. Simultaneously they open an exhibition at the Design and Architecture center (DogA) in Oslo, showcasing the three nominees.
- It’s no a coincident that it is the Øya Festival, Jensen Furniture and SeaBed Geophysical who are nominated for The Honours Award for Design Excellence. These three companies work with design in a mythological and goal-oriented way, says Marte Grevsgard, project manager for Award for Design Excellence in The Norwegian Design Council. The three nominees are picked out total of 167 applicants for the Award for Design Excellence.
The minister is enthusiastic
Sylvia Brustad, the Trade and Industry Minister of Norway, participated at the exhibition opening at DogA 26th of February, and she is very impressed by the three nominees.
- Jensen Furniture, SeaBed and The Øya Festival are Norwegian role models in their usage of design as a tool to create strong, innovative products and services, she says.
Brustad is now hoping that more Norwegian businesses find inspiration to make design a priority in their work with innovation and product development.
- In order to resolve the big challenges of the future, and to succeed in an ever more tougher international competition, we need innovative businesses all over the country. The credit crunch of today underscores the need to create more Norwegian stories of success. And design is an important tool in doing so. That’s why the Norwegian government has put design so high on the agenda list, acknowledges the minster.
The Øya Festival
For two consecutive years The Øya Festival has been Norway’s most popular music festival. And in 2008 they had a grand total of 75 000 visitors during the five-day festival. It’s the festival profile from 2008 that has been nominated for The Honours Award for Design Excellence 2009.
– The Øya Festival will change its profile every year. We want to reset our organization before each festival. And by doing that, securing that we don’t fall into old routines. A profile that is in a constant evolution gives the organization a boost, just as much as it keeps the public interested in the festival, says Arnt Olaf Andersen, marketing manager in The Øya Festival.
SeaBed Geophysical
Hard competition and a strong focus on price levels between companies dealing with geophysical search on deep-water. This was the situation that made the Trondheim based company SeaBed Geophysical begin the CASE Abyss development process.
– The product has become an important tool in order for us to explain the system for our clients. The shape of the product is attention grabbing and unique and reflects the identity of the service in a very god way. Experience tells us that oil firms remember us better when we bring the CASE Abyss with us to sales meeings and can document our presentation in something visual and concrete, says Fredrik Næs, head of SeaBed Geophysicals Trondheim department.
Jensen Furniture
The goal of the Jensen Eden bed was to make a product that did not follow the traditional way of thinking about mattresses. Jensen saw an ever-increasing market for adjustable beds, but was astounded by the fact that the existing beds in this segment often looked like hospital beds.
- We are now talking about a universal product, with a global design that make the bed attractive for customers in both the Norwegian and the international market. The bed also has a hint of sex appeal, which should be a welcome addition in any bedroom, laughs Jan Trygve Jensen, general manager of Jensen Furniture.
An unique exhibition
From the 26th of February till 11th of March the three nominees will be showcased at DogA in Oslo. The exhibition will be open to the public. From the 19th of March the exhibition will be expanded to also include all the winners of Award for Design Excellence at Design Day 2009.
– The exhibition is a unique chance to get a status update on the shape of Norwegian design. The showcased products and the services represents the finest within Norwegian design at the moment, concludes Marte Grevsgard, project manager for Award for Design Excellence in The Norwegian Design Council.
Contact:
- Marte Grevsgard, Project manager for Award for Design Excellence,
The Norwegian Design Council: +47 917 74 683, mg@norskdesign.no - Grete Kobro, Head of Information, The Norwegian Design Council:
+47 23 29 25 57, gk@norskdesign.no - Arnt Olaf Andersen, Marketing manager in The Øya Festival,
tel: +47 476 12 956 - Fredrik Næs head of SeaBed Geophysicals Trondheim department,
tel: +47 986 34 163 - Jan Trygve Jensen, Managing Director of Jensen Furniture,
tel: +47 911 58 185
This article is writen by Pressenytt for The Norwegian Design Council. Pressenytt has the editorial responsiblity for the content of the article.
