The Golden Pin Design Award and Golden Pin Concept Design Award 2020 announce a total of 91 finalists. During the Final Selections in September, the jury decided on 83 entries to be shortlisted for the Best of Golden Pin Design Award and 8 entries to be shortlisted for the Best of Golden Pin Concept Design Award. The shortlists are topped by Taiwan with 50 entries, Mainland China with 22, and Hong Kong with 9, followed by other entries from Thailand, the U.S., Canada, Indonesia, Poland, and India. All shortlisted entries will compete for the Best Design—the highest honor. The organizer will also be awarding the Golden Pin Design Award’s Special Annual Award for Social Design and for Circular Design to entries with major social or industrial significance that meet the award criteria, along with a new special award for this year’s Golden Pin Concept Design Award—the ConceptD Award—for designers who excel in creativity and innovation. All award winners will be revealed at the award ceremony held in early December.
Golden Pin Design Award
The Final Selection for this year’s Golden Pin Design Award took place from September 15-16. After fifteen hours of discussion held over two days, the jury of twelve Taiwanese and international design experts specializing in different fields of design selected 83 entries out of the 526 Design Mark Recipients to be shortlisted for the Best Design. The shortlisted entries include 45 entries from Taiwan, 22 from Mainland China, 7 from Hong Kong, 4 from Thailand, 2 from the U.S., 1 from Canada, 1 from Indonesia, and 1 from Poland.
Renowned Japanese designer and first time Golden Pin Design Award jury member Fumie Shibata noted that she was impressed with the number of outstanding designs she saw among this year’s shortlisted entries. When judging the entries, in addition to evaluating the designs themselves, she also considered how these design innovations could be integrated into everyday life, society, and urban environments to create positive impacts. Distinguished Taiwanese designer Aaron Nieh pointed out that there were many exceptional entries this year, but those with a unique voice that reflected contemporary thinking were the ones that truly grabbed his attention.
The Highlights of the Shortlisted Entries
❚ FORM Smart Swimming Goggles (Canada) (Product Design category)
Form Athletica
Canadian-based Form Athletica’s Smart Swimming Goggles are a pair of smart goggles designed specifically for swimmers; using sensitive and accurate sensor technology, the goggles allow swimmers to view metrics such as swim pace and stroke rate in real-time.
❚ Luxgen URX 5+1 – Universal Design (Taiwan) (Product Design category)
Luxgen Motor & OurCityLove Social Enterprise Co., Ltd.
The universal design of the Luxgen URX 5+1 wheelchair-accessible SUV was developed and designed by Luxgen Motor and features its patented, intuitive and convenient Quick Lock Wheelchair System. Incorporating a wheelchair-friendly space, this flexible SUV can be used for strollers, bicycles, or a wheelchair depending on your family’s needs.
❚ ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 (Taiwan) (Product Design category)
ASUSTek Computer Inc.
The ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 is a dual-screen laptop made for gamers and content creators; it has been greatly optimized to provide a convenient visual display and controls, allowing for a highly efficient user experience.
❚ DARE VSRu AeroRoad (Taiwan) (Product Design category)
Compositegear Co., Ltd.
DARE Bikes’ VSRu AeroRoad sports a fully hidden cable design and an electronic gear-shift system with integrated battery mount and controller. The design impresses with its highly integrated technology and exceptional craftsmanship that allows for smooth and accurate gear shifting.
❚ G-Wall Modular Highly-Integrated Home Fitness System (China) (Product Design category)
Guangdong Piano Customized Furniture Co., Ltd.
G-Wall is a fitness system that can be integrated into a wall or custom furniture inside your home. It features a modular design and environmentally friendly bamboo material, takes up little space and is easy to stow, making it a must-have for users interested in joining the growing at-home fitness trend.
❚ Shoushan Zoo Visual Identity Redesign (Taiwan) (Communication Design category)
POM (Project On Museum)
This zoo visual identity redesign project consists of a symbolic signage system inspired by the local ecosystem that was first unveiled during the 2019 Kaohsiung Design Festival to create a futuristic and stylish visual identity for Shoushan Zoo.
❚ Architecture Library, Chulalongkorn University (Thailand) (Spatial Design category)
Department of ARCHITECTURE Co.
The library rethinks the functions and significance of the university as they relate to the library of the university’s Department of Architecture. Its multi-functionality and stylistically distinct spatial planning make this library more than just a place for reading; it is also an incubator of creativity.
❚ Lost Villa Boutique Hotel (China) (Spatial Design category)
DAS Design Co., Ltd.
This hotel was built on the bank of the Yellow River and features a uniquely designed lodging space inspired by the local ecosystem and cultural environment, giving the hotel a sophisticated and understated look that blends naturally into the local community.
❚ Go! Go! South Pole—Adventurous Horizon (Taiwan) (Integration Design category)
InFormat Design Curating
It was an exhibition that showcased the achievements of Gamania Cheer Up Foundation’s Antarctica Expedition project; through brilliant curating and design, the exhibition transported visitors on an adventurous trek across Antarctica.
Follow this link for the full list of Golden Pin Design Award 2020 Finalists
https://bit.ly/2FUVUbt
Golden Pin Concept Design Award
This year’s Final Selection for the Golden Pin Concept Design Award was held from September 16-17. Many shortlisted participants attended the event to deliver in-person presentations in front of the jury members to win their approval. After many rounds of discussion, the jury selected 8 entries (including 5 from Taiwan, 1 from Hong Kong, and 1 from India) out of the 60 Design Mark Recipients to be shortlisted for the Best Design.
Renowned Singaporean designer and Final Selection jury member Nathan Yong observed that a comprehensive look at the trends evident in this year’s shortlisted entries shows that the Golden Pin Concept Design Award attracts a diverse range of impressive designs from across the globe. Many entries drew inspiration from humanitarian, cultural, or social issues and proposed solutions to these issues; to his amazement, some even reflected the social context of Taiwan. Unicorn Reading Studio founder Jenny Lee noted that many of this year’s entries showed a mastery of design and presentation. However, when judging the entries, she focused more on how the designs were conceptualized, whether or not they were necessary, whether the designers put themselves in the target audience’s shoes, and if the designs have potential for future development. Finnish architect Marco Casagrande and Business Next Magazine founder Wei-Hsiung Chan both pointed out that the most important value of the Golden Pin Concept Design Award is to encourage designers to think outside the box and generate new ideas in the hope that more designers will propose bold, creative solutions to invigorate both society and a variety of industries.
The Highlights of the Shortlisted Entries
❚ FloaX (Taiwan) (Product Design category)
Yu-Chun Chang & Joseph Kah-Rong Wong
Floax is a drain cover that automatically closes using the buoyant float and flaps inside, thus mitigating the issues of breeding mosquitos and slow drainage commonly found with ordinary drain covers.
❚ LIDfree (Taiwan) (Communication Design category)
Chia-Chun Chuang & Pei-Chun Hsueh
LIDfree is a takeaway cup that does not require a plastic lid; it features a special folding lid structure and folding lid created using origami techniques. With this cup, the designers hope to simplify the recycling process and reduce plastic use while maintaining functionality and taking users’ habits into account.
❚ YEZO (Hong Kong) (Spatial Design category)
Laboratory for Explorative Architecture & Design Ltd.
Kristof Crolla & Julien Klisz
YEZO is a small mountain retreat built in the northern mountains of Hokkaido, Japan. The design would use of the natural landscape and utilized an experimental design approach to create a new form of mountain retreat whose shape was carefully calculated, optimized, and realized with curved glue-laminated timber beams. This approach would reduce manufacturing costs and minimizes ecological impacts.
Follow this link for the full list of Golden Pin Concept Design Award 2020 Finalists
https://bit.ly/3mOCTIg
Golden Pin Design Award & Golden Pin Concept Design Award 2020
The Best Design winners for the 2020 Golden Pin Design Award and Golden Pin Concept Design Award will be revealed at the award ceremony held in Taipei in early December. The awards organizer will also be awarding the Golden Pin Design Award’s Special Annual Award for Social Design and for Circular Design to encourage more designers and businesses to take the lead in pushing for social innovation and contributing to a sustainable circular economy. Furthermore, in collaboration with Acer, this year’s Golden Pin Concept Design Award will be awarding the Special Annual ConceptD Award for outstanding creative design talent; the winner will receive products worth a total value of over NT$300,000 from Acer’s ConceptD line for designers and content creators. For the latest news on the Golden Pin Design Award, please visit the official website (https://www.goldenpin.org.tw/en/) and follow us on social media.