Hasta La Ideas

Dezeen Wire: British manufacturer Dyson has expressed disappointment about the lack of protection offered to British designers following the loss of a design rights case against Chinese-owned Vax, who Dyson claims have copied one of their popular models.

Image showing the Dyson DC02 and Vax Air vacuum cleaner: courtesy of Dyson

Dyson recently won a similar case in France against the same company but British courts failed to find fault with the similarities between Dyson’s DC02 and Vax’s machine.

Dyson founder James Dyson added: “We’ve invested decades, not to mention millions, in creating better technology. And sadly we waste millions more in cases like this. We need to better protect British design.”

James Dyson launched his first vacuum cleaner without a bag in the 1980s. See all our stories about Dyson here and listen to our interview with him here.

Below is a press release issued by Dyson earlier today:

Dyson design wins in France but loses in Britain

Dyson has lost its design rights case against Chinese-owned Vax (part of TTI). British courts failed to find fault with the Chinese conglomerate aping the appearance of Dyson’s iconic DC02 cleaner, bypassing inventiveness in favour of imitation, yet in France Dyson won its hard fought design case against the same firm (TTI).

French courts ruled that TTI’s Dirt Devil had unfairly copied Dyson’s overall look; Dirt Devil is Vax’s sister brand.  French law rules that copying a distinctive design is illegal because it creates confusion for consumers and is unfair competition. The UK does not have the same supportive legal framework.

James Dyson: “By copying our design, Vax has attempted to ride our coattails, crudely cashing-in on the success we’ve built on better engineering. We’ve invested decades, not to mention millions, in creating better technology.  And sadly we waste millions more in cases like this.  We need to better protect British design”.

Iconic British Design: Dyson’s DC02 was engineered in the UK in 1994. Dyson’s first cylinder machine, its distinctive appearance caused it to be noticed across the world: examples can even be found in New York’s Museum of Modern Art and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

The Vax Mach Zen Air was launched in 2009. Whilst Vax claims to be an “iconic British company”, its latest financial results suggest otherwise, showing all shares to be owned by the Chinese company TTI, the owner of other vacuum cleaner brands Hoover and Dirt Devil. The company’s 2010 results also appear to reveal that no corporation tax was paid in the UK and only £149,000 was paid on overseas earnings.  88% of Dyson’s taxes are paid to the British Exchequer – £50 million in 2010.

Imitation – far from flattering: Dyson has recently won an unfair competition case against Dirt Devil in France and is waiting for the handing down of  a decision of the Dutch court of Appeals  in the Netherlands. However, Dyson continues to battle with Chinese manufacturers manufacturing copies of the Dyson Air Multiplier fan.

Further background:

In 2006 Dyson succeeded in its claim against Qualtex for selling vacuum cleaner parts that infringed Dyson’s design rights. Qualtex was found to have copied the visual design of some of Dyson’s spare parts.  Damages were donated to London’s Royal College of Art to help young designers protect their designs.

As the second highest UK-filer of UK patents after Rolls Royce (2009), Dyson continues to invest millions in developing new technology every year.  Bucking the trend, Dyson is recruiting during recession, growing its UK engineering team to 700.

84% of Dyson machines are sold outside of the UK – and Dyson is market leader in the UK, US, Australia, New Zealand, Western Europe and Canada.

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Dezeen Wire: Australian industrial designer Marc Newson has been announced as the recipient of the Lucky Strike Designer Award 2011, which includes a prize of €50,000.

Marc Newson: portrait by Romeo Balancout

A statement from the expert jury explaining the decision said that Newson “managed to unite efficient lifestyle product design and pioneering concept ideas, as well as prototypes which have been recognised worldwide as a total work of art, in his creative works.”

The annual award is sponsored by the Raymond Loewy Foundation and is presented “in recognition of the life work of outstanding, internationally successful designers.”

Newson will receive the award this evening at the stilwerk design centre in Hamburg.

Previous recipients include Paola Antonelli (2010), Dieter Rams (2007), John Maeda (2005), Philippe Starck (2004), Ingo Maurer (2000) and Richard Sapper (1992).

The following information is from the Raymond Loewy Foundation:

Lucky Strike Designer Award 2011 for Marc Newson – Cosmopolite of design

The Lucky Strike Designer Award, one of the most important designer awards worldwide, offering a prize of 50,000 euros, goes this year to Australian Marc Newson, one of the most influential designers of his generation.

With Marc Newson, the Raymond Loewy Foundation – established in 1991 by British American Tobacco in Hamburg – is honouring “the very successful and globally active all-round designer for industrial products and goods for everyday life”, states the jury for the Foundation. Marc Newson will be presented with the Lucky Strike Designer Award on 27 October at stilwerk in Hamburg.

Born in 1963 in Sydney, Australia, Newson spent his childhood travelling in Europe and Asia, before studying jewellery and sculpture at Sydney College of the Arts (SCA).  He started experimenting with furniture design as a student and, after graduating in 1984, was awarded a grant from the Australian Crafts Council, following which he organised an exhibition – featuring his legendary Lockheed Lounge – at the Roslyn Oxley Gallery in Sydney. The futuristic lounge chair, an icon of contemporary design, acquired additional fame in Madonna’s music video “Rain”.

After working and living in Tokyo and Paris, Newson moved on to London in 1997, where he founded Marc Newson Ltd. He designed industrially manufactured glass items for littala, kitchen and bath accessories for Alessi as well as furniture, lighting and household objects for Magis, B&B Italia, Idée and Dupont Corian. In addition, he designed vehicles, such as the MN01 motorbike for the Danish manufacturer Biomega and the 021C concept car for Ford, as well as the interior outfitting of a Falcon 900B private jet. Newson also designed the uniforms for the Australian Olympic Games team in 2004 in Athens, Greece, the Zvezdochka shoe for Nike and fashion collection for G-Star as well as the Scope luggage series for Samsonite. In 2006, Newson took over the position of Creative Director at Qantas Airways and continued to work on the development of the interior design for the A380 as well as the airport lounges in Sydney and Melbourne.

Newson’s work has not only been honoured with numerous awards – including six Good Design Awards from Chicago Atheneum – it has also been displayed in various exhibitions. His pieces are present in most major permanent museum collections – for example at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the London Design Museum, the Musée d’Art Moderne – Centre Georges Pompidou as well as at the Vitra Design Museum. Marc Newson is an exceptional professor for design at Sydney College of the Arts and Hong Kong Polytechnic University. In the United Kingdom, he has been appointed “Royal Designer for Industry”.

With Marc Newson as winner of the Lucky Strike Designer Award 2011, the jury is following the tradition of the Raymond Loewy Foundation of highlighting the broad spectrum of design – the creation of things, both in terms of their content and formally – in its entirety and of bringing public awareness to it.

The design centre stilwerk in Hamburg is the exclusive partner of the Lucky Strike Designer and the Lucky Strike Junior Designer Awards 2011. As a platform for interior furnishings, design and lifestyle – with 28 premium shops at a single source – and since its opening in 1996, stilwerk has made a name for itself that goes beyond Hamburg’s borders. Today, stilwerk manages further branches in Berlin, Dusseldorf and Vienna.

Raymond Loewy Foundation: background

The Raymond Loewy Foundation makes a substantial contribution to the promotion of good design, and to highlighting the great importance of design for the development of the economy and of society in general. The Foundation was set up in Hamburg in 1991, and supports pioneering and professional design in the spirit of the great American designer Raymond Loewy (1893-1986).

Previous winners of the Lucky Strike Designer Award include Stefan Sagmeister (2009), Ken Adam (2008), Dieter Rams (2007), Ferran Adrià (2006), Philippe Starck (2004), Michael Ballhaus (2001), Donna Karan (1999), Peter Lindbergh (1996) and Karl Lagerfeld (1993).

Raymond Loewy Foundation: the committee

Prof. Werner Aisslinger (studio aisslinger)

Michael Ballhaus (Director of Photography; winner of the 2001 Lucky Strike Designer Award)

Prof. Wolfgang Laubersheimer (Cologne International School of Design, Department of Production Technologies)

Jürgen Plüss (Brand Consultant, Gütersloh)

Raymond Loewy Foundation: the jury

Head of the jury:

Prof. Johann H. Tomforde (Competence & Design-Center for Mobility-Innovations, Böblingen)

Members of the jury:

Prof. Werner Aisslinger (studio aisslinger)

Nils Jockel (Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg)

Prof. Wolfgang Laubersheimer (Cologne International School of Design, Department of Production Technologies)

Jürgen Plüss (Brand Consultant, Gütersloh)

Prof. Joachim Sauter (Universität der Künste Berlin – Digital Media Design; ART+COM, Berlin)

Dr. Angela Schönberger (formerly Director of Kunstgewerbemuseum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin)

Jury Statement:

The jury of the Raymond Loewy Foundation has chosen to honour the Lucky Strike Designer Award 2011 to Marc Newson, a very successful and globally active all-round designer for industrial products and goods for everyday life.

The cosmopolite Marc Newson has managed to unite efficient lifestyle product design and pioneering concept ideas, as well as prototypes which have been recognised worldwide as a total work of art, in his creative works.

Marc Newson has set an innovative course in furniture and home interior design using combinations of materials which are characterised by their purist elegance and practical textures. In the realm of transportation design, Marc Newson has created a buzz with the compact car concept 021C for Ford in the USA, private jet interiors, carbon racing bikes, the ASTRIUM space shuttle for EADS, with the yacht brand RIVA, and Airbus A 380 interiors for Qantas Airways, where he has worked as Creative Director for many years. Also in the area of interior design for restaurants and hotels, in product design for objects of everyday use, and in sportswear design, Marc Newson has provided new impulses again and again with a “design DNA” that has become his trademark.

The 47-year-old Australian has become one of the most highly remunerated creative designers – due to his unique design and communication style as well as the branding of his design.

The designer Marc Newson encourages many young talents to break free from monotonous product design with their own strategies and concepts.

His exemplary achievements – also serving as a model for a new generation of cosmopolitan- and multi-cultural-minded designers – were decisive factors for the jury to honour Marc Newson with the Lucky Strike Designer Award 2011.

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Dezeen Wire: the ceremony for next year’s Pritzker Prize for architecture will take place in Beijing, the first time the ceremony has ever been held in China.

The announcement of the 2012 host city was made by the Mayor of Beijing, Guo Jinlong and Thomas J. Pritzker, Chairman of The Hyatt Foundation, who explained that it is an appropriate time for the awards to take place in China as many of the laureates including Zaha Hadid, Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, Rem Koolhaas and Norman Foster are responsible for completed or ongoing projects in the country.

The venue for the ceremony has yet to be disclosed but previous events have been held at historically significant sites including France’s Palace of Versailles, the White House in Washington and the Todai-ji Temple in Japan.

See all of our stories on previous Pritzker Prizes here.

Here is some more information from the Pritzker Prize organisers:

Pritzker Architecture Prize Ceremony Will Be Held in China Next Year

The 2012 Pritzker Architecture Prize Ceremony will be held in Beijing, China on May 25, 2012, it was disclosed today In a joint announcement by Guo Jinlong, the Mayor of Beijing, China and Thomas J. Pritzker, Chairman of The Hyatt Foundation.

Pritzker elaborated, “Over the three decades of prize-giving, we have held ceremonies in fourteen different countries, in venues ranging from the White House in Washington DC to Todai-ji Temple in Nara, Japan.   The tradition of moving the event to world sites of architectural significance was established to emphasize that the prize is international, the laureates having been chosen from 16 different nations to date.  This will be our 34^th event marking the first time we have gone to China.”

“It is particularly appropriate that we should go to China because so many of the laureates have projects there, either in work or completed, including one of our earliest laureates, Ieoh Ming Pei,  who won the prize in 1983”, Pritzker continued.  “ Some of the others include the 2002 Pritzker Laureate from London, Zaha Hadid’s new opera house in Guangzhou; the 2001 laureates Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron of Switzerland who designed Beijing’s National Stadium; Rem Koolhaas of The Netherlands whose projects in China include a Television Cultural Center in Beijing and a Shenzen Stock Exchange; and the1999 Pritzker Laureate Norman Foster who has completed the Hong Kong International Airport as well as the headquarters for the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banks.”

Mayor Guo Jinlong said, “The Pritzker Architecture Prize is the most recognized award in the architectural field throughout the world.  We believe holding this event in Beijing will further raise the awareness of the Pritzker Prize in China, and promote the development of the architectural industry in Beijing and China as a whole.  Hosting the ceremony in Beijing will also attract many globally reputable architecture firms and architects to participate in building Beijing as the most liveable city and famous cultural capital.”

Pritzker pointed out that the juries for the prize have always been international as well, and currently has members from China,  the United Kingdom, Chile, Australia, Finland and the United States,  and in past years had members from Japan, India, Mexico, and  Switzerland.  The current Pritzker jury now consists of eight  people, including its chairman, Lord Palumbo of the United Kingdom, and (alphabetically) Alejandro Aravena from Chile, architect and executive director of Elemental;  Stephen Breyer, a Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court; Yung Ho Chang, who is an architect and educator from Beijing, China;  Zaha Hadid, who is an architect based in London who was the 2004 Pritzker Laureate;  Australian architect;  Glenn Murcutt who was the 2002 Pritzker Laureate;  Juhani Pallasmaa of Finland, who is an architect, professor and author; and Karen Stein, a writer, editor and architectural consultant in the U.S.    Martha Thorne, the associate dean for external affairs at the IE School of Architecture in Madrid, Spain, is the executive director.

The specific building to be used for the ceremony in Beijing is still under consideration, but the category of the site to be chosen is likely to be of historic significance.  In addition to the White House and Todai-ji Temple, past sites have included France’s Palace of Versailles and Grand Trianon;  Prague Castle in The Czech Republic. Some of the most beautiful museums in the United States have hosted the event: Chicago’s Art Institute, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Fort Worth’s Kimball Art Museum. This year, one of Washington’s finest classical building, the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium was the ceremony location. The U.S. capital has been the site, in all,  five times: once at the Library of Congress and twice at Dumbarton Oaks, and once at  the National Gallery of Art’s East Building designed by Pritzker Laureate I.M. Pei, and the already mentioned Mellon Auditorium.  Other sites designed by laureates of the Pritzker Prize were Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain and Richard Meier’s Getty Center in Los Angeles.

Further plans for guests attending the ceremony in Beijing are being formulated, including seminars, and building tours of the city’s old and new architecture.

The Pritzker Architecture Prize was established by The Hyatt Foundation in 1979 to honor annually a living architect whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision, and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture.

The field of architecture was chosen by the Pritzker family because of their keen interest in buildings due to their involvement with developing the Hyatt Hotels around the world; and because architecture was a creative endeavor not included in the Nobel Prizes. The procedures were modeled after the Nobel Prizes, with the final selection being made by the international jury with all deliberations and voting in secret. Nominations are continuous from year to year with hundreds of nominees from countries all around the world being considered each year.  It has often been described by the media as “architecture’s most prestigious award” or as “the Nobel of architecture.”

The prize takes its name from the Pritzker family, whose international business interests are headquartered in Chicago.  They have long been known for their support of educational, social welfare, scientific, medical and cultural activities.  When Jay A. Pritzker, who founded the prize with his wife, Cindy, died on January 23, 1999, his eldest son, Thomas J. Pritzker, became chairman of The Hyatt Foundation.

The late Philip Johnson was the first Pritzker Laureate in 1979. The late Luis Barragán of Mexico was named in 1980. The late James Stirling of the United Kingdom  was elected in 1981. Laureates since then by year are as follows: (if no country is noted, the laureate is from the United States) Kevin Roche in 1982, Ieoh Ming Pei in 1983, Richard Meier in 1984, Hans Hollein of Austria in 1985, Gottfried Böhm of Germany in 1986,  Kenzo Tange of Japan in 1987, in 1988 there were two laureates named: Oscar Niemeyer of Brazil and Gordon Bunshaft, Frank Gehry in 1989, the late Aldo Rossi of Italy in 1990, Robert Venturi in 1991, Alvaro Siza of Portugal in 1992. Christian de Portzamparc of France in 1994, Tadao Ando of Japan in 1995, Rafael Moneo of Spain in 1996, the late Sverre Fehn of Norway; in 1997,  Renzo Piano of Italy in 1998, Norman Foster of the UK in 1999, Rem Koolhaas of the Netherlands in 2000,    Glenn Murcutt of Australia in 2002, the late Jørn Utzon of Denmark in 2003,  Zaha Hadid of the UK in 2004, Thom Mayne in 2005, Paulo Mendes da Rocha of Brazil in 2006, Richard Rogers of the UK in 2007, Jean Nouvel of France in 2008, Peter Zumthor of Switzerland in 2009, partners Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of SANAA, Inc. in Japan in 2010, and Eduardo Souto de Moura of Portugal in 2011.

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Dezeen Wire: 11 design teams including OMA, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Zaha Hadid, Grimshaw Architects and HOK have been shortlisted in a competition to redesign the public spaces at Chicago’s Navy Pier development.

The 11 candidates were chosen from over 50 entries by multidisciplinary teams consisting of landscape architects, urban, graphic and lighting designers, art curators and architects.

Steve Haemmerle, Executive Vice President of Navy Pier Inc. said: “We are looking for teams that have exhibited design leadership and an innovative approach to the design of passive landscapes, urban civic spaces and active commercial environments. The teams on our shortlist have a significant record of accomplishment and standing within the design community.”

The announcement of the winning design is set for February next year. Details of the shortlisted teams are included in a press release from the Navy Pier Inc, which you can see here.

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Dezeen Wire: architecture critics have been offering their thoughts on Daniel Libeskind’s divisive Military History Museum in Dresden, which opened earlier this month.

The Observer‘s architecture critic Rowan Moore praised the spaces where the old museum meets the new addition but admonished the shard-like extension for its lack of functional space, stating: “The design’s weakness is its belief that sheer shape can speak on its own.”

In a review for The Wall Street Journal, Mary M. Lane described Libeskind’s intervention as “a piece of shrapnel freshly fallen from the sky” and outlines the architect’s motivations for working on the project, as a child of Holocaust survivors.

Writing in German publication Deutsche Welle, Ronny Arnold said that Libeskind’s renovation marks a new beginning and claims that “the museum is moving away from the mere presentation of war equipment and toward multidimensionality,” while Erin Huggins of The Local obtained a positive response to the building from museum spokesman Major Lars Berg, who said: “It’s an interesting combination of conventional components and something very progressive that one wouldn’t expect from the military.”

Libeskind’s design has had our readers up in arms – see the article and comments here and see all of our previous stories on Daniel Libeskind here.

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