About

• The call for entries starts on 23 March and ends on 1 June 2023, after which the projects will be reviewed by the experts of the nomi­na­tion teams and proposed to the jury.
• On 9 July, we will organise the new format “Design Retreat” for the first time in coop­er­a­tion with our part­ners Zürcherische Seiden Indus­trie Gesellschaft and Pro Helvetia.
• The judging will take place from 31 August to 2 September in Zurich. At the end, we invite you to a networking event where the nomi­na­tions will be made avail­able to the public.
• The award cere­mony will take place on 3 November 2023 in Langen­thal.
• Last but not least: As part of the rebranding of the cate­gories, the jury panel will be slightly changed and expanded by further experts. The new members are expected to be announced at the end of January 2023.

Always a breeding ground for change, a crisis can entail new ways of thinking. Today, we see more and more design actors exploring new paths, which makes us posi­tive. For example, Studio Formafan­tasma, which has devel­oped its website in such a way that it only needs a small amount of power. Or young brands that offer more than just a product, but a whole process, a complete story, where every­thing is cred­ible and makes sense. For example the yearly pop-up shop Vermi­cel­leria in Zurich with its conse­quently consis­tent and sustain­able approach, using regional chest­nuts, producing in the vicinity, using sustain­able pack­aging. The younger gener­a­tion has under­stood that today it is no longer just about a product, but about the whole design process.

Food is an everyday topic every­body comes into contact with. Food is about two different aspects, but both have to do with design: Firstly, the look, because as we all know, eating is linked to the look of the food. The pack­aging and all the trim­mings are also part of it. Secondly, it’s about the essence of food, the devel­op­ment of new foods and their prepa­ra­tion. In this sense, it is not only food engi­neers who are food designers, so every chef is a food designer. They deter­mine compo­nents, compo­si­tion, presen­ta­tion and, above all, where the prod­ucts come from and how sustain­able they are. And by the way, it is also a topic in educa­tion: In Italy, Austria or South America, you can study food design.

Food is an everyday topic every­body comes into contact with. Food is about two different aspects, but both have to do with design: Firstly, the look, because as we all know, eating is linked to the look of the food. The pack­aging and all the trim­mings are also part of it. Secondly, it’s about the essence of the food, and so every chef is a food designer. He or she deter­mines compo­nents, compo­si­tion, presen­ta­tion and, above all, where the prod­ucts come from and how sustain­able they are. And by the way, it is also a topic in educa­tion: in Milan or Eind­hoven, you can study food design.

We wanted to make the cate­gories more up to date and to the point. Circular economy has arrived in our society as an estab­lished subject, thanks to well-known designers such as Stefan Diez and others. In the second cate­gory, we came to the conclu­sion that inclu­sion should not only refer to the older gener­a­tion, but to society as a whole.

Mapping Excel­lent Design war immer der Claim von Design Preis Schweiz. Super Wording, dachten wir, doch die Map fehlte. Unsere Vision ist es, die ganze Design­wirtschaft in der Schweiz auch abzu­bilden. Auf der Karte kann man langfristig nach Design­events, Manu­fak­turen, Insti­tu­tionen, Studios usw. suchen. Wir möchten das Feld öffnen und zeigen, wieviele tolle Akteur:innen und Orte bezüglich Design es hierzu­lande gibt.

An inter­ac­tive map, an E‑guide that also shows an inter­na­tional audi­ence how lively and active the Swiss design scene is.

Our goal is to make the award more inter­na­tional again in the long term and also to award inter­na­tional projects. Because although we act locally, our inspi­ra­tion and exchange are always in a global context.