Sneak Peek: 10 Visionary Designs Which Could Be Coming Your Way

This year marks Koelnmesse’s along with the German Design Council’s 10th [D³] Contest, among the world’s most renowned competitions showcasing up-and-coming designers and their innovative products. Of over 600 products submitted to the contest, just 21 prototypes were chosen to be presented by their designers in imm Cologne, among the biggest furniture, lighting and interior design trade shows on the planet. Three of those advanced products won the prestigious Interior Innovation Award, and several others are going to be taken into production by well-known producers. Meet a handful of the talented young designers in the fair, for this year’s first-place winner.

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L´Étagère en Bois, by Lucien Gumy, first-place winner

With a background in design, designer Lucien Gumy states, “I always try to locate not just simplicity in design, but also a new way of thinking.” Gumy designed this interlocking solid wood shelving unit so that it could be constructed without nails, bolts or screws. The prototype was created for its designer’s degree project at Switzerland’s University of Art and Design, Lausanne.

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“I played with horizontal and vertical assembly methods before I achieved a method which needs no screws or glue, and may be dismantled,” states Gumy. “I took this process and repeated it at all the intersections.” The dimensions of this unit can be adjusted by mixing elements of various lengths.

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Tilt, by Tina Schmid, second-place winner

Tina Schmid’s model is about visual illusion, as the easy picture becomes a three-dimensional thing. What resembles a cube is multipurpose and can be folded out to be a clothing rack. The item consists of a good system of rods with jointed nodes which may be rotated as needed. Schmid is a recent graduate of the industrial design program at the University of Applied Sciences in Darmstadt, Germany.

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CMYK Lamp, by Dennis Parren, third-place winner

Dennis Parren’s colorful lamp investigates the mysteries of color and light. The lamp consists of LED lights which cast an array of lines and shadows in cyan, magenta and yellow onto its own environment.

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Dear Disaster, by Jenny Ekdahl

Jenny Ekdahl’s Dear Disaster cabinet is motivated by the conflicting love-hate connection that humans often possess with Mother Nature and its own sometimes frightening yet wonderful occasions.

“My greatest source of inspiration has always been contradicting relations between technology and nature,” states Ekdahl, who graduated with a master’s degree in fine arts in the School of Industrial Design in Sweden’s Lund University. “I’m fascinated with their transformations — natural behaviours changing into mechanical purposes or fantasies transforming in fact,” she states.

The cabinet design represents earth and water, contrasting elements emblematic of nature.

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Ekdahl desired to translate natural attributes through routine and structure into a piece of furniture which rolls people on an emotional level. Small, curved wooden chips throughout the surface of the cabinet could be transferred, making a soothing and intriguing wave of movement.

“My interpretations of natural disasters are used as a metaphor to describe the significance of psychological and poetic experiences in design for now and for the long run,” states Ekdahl.

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Beames Chair, by Eric Chang and Johnny Hu

Taiwanese design duo Eric Chang and Johnny Hu are the masterminds behind the innovative Beams Chair. Inspired by the H-beam structure of San Francisco’s iconic Golden Gate Bridge, the pair crafted this lightweight structure using two kinds of wood (plywood and multiplex) to ensure a stable layout. Weighing just 3 kilograms, it’s a trendy, modern seating option.

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Chang and Hu have known each other for ten decades and both graduated in the Weissensee School of Art in Berlin this summer. Together they plan to develop their E & J Design Studio at Berlin.

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Pilu, by Leoni Werle

This contemporary desk and floor lamp is by Leoni Werle, a graduate of the University of Applied Sciences at Aachen, Germany. This model consists of a solid walnut base with an aluminum shade. The sturdy design of the foundation and the use of a one-directional hinge allow a seesaw-like, smooth movement between two places.

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The starting point for your Pilu was Werle’s own search for the great adjustable desk lamp. “I discovered that the designs I’d seen looked rather unattractive, with visible joints and wires,” she states. “I needed to produce a lamp which was adjustable, but a sensible and attractive lamp that will provide an indirect light source.”

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Fanions, by Linn Kandel, Dimitri Bahler and Ismael Studer

Produced by layout trio BKS, this striking assortment of 3 rugs is fuss free and plays with the optical illusion of the conventional rug fringe. They are made from pure wool felt, a comfy and durable material that lends itself nicely to their graphic aesthetic.

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BKS comprises three separate industrial and product designers: Dimitri Bähler (revealed), Linn Kandel and Ismaël Studer. The trio graduated from ECAL, the University of Art and Design at Lausanne, Switzerland, in 2010. As a collective design firm, they operate in Neuchâtel, Switzerland; Stockholm, Sweden; and Paris.

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Invader, by Maria Bruun

Danish designer Maria Bruun, a graduate of the Danish School of Design, created this long-legged storage unit with a clean and easy decorative. The storage modules vary in size and function to enable the user to personalize the storage and display.

The idea for Invader developed from Bruun’s interest in different methods bring about the sense of home. “I understood that ‘home’ is made up of the things which people possess: their images, books and souvenirs,” Bruun states. “I discovered that through these collected items, people tell stories of the past, their present and their dreams for the future.”

The modular system consists of elastic elements of maple and steel. “People’s needs are continually changing, so the device was designed to be flexible enough to grow with the person, with stackable elements that fit into one another and may be added upon as needed,” says Bruun.

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Shingle Shelves, by Hanna Krüger

Inspired by the shingles of a roof, Hanna Krüger’s wooden device consists of shelves with raw leather shingle-shaped sliding doors. By opening one, you close another. “I needed to design a shelf with sliding doors which can layer above each other like the shingles of a roof,” states Krüger. ” [I desired it] to have closed and open spaces in precisely the same moment.” The doors are made of leather that will darken with exposure to light over time; the remaining part of the structure is constructed from primitive walnut.

The young designer trained as a cabinetmaker and studied product design at the Kunsthochschule Kassel in Germany.

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The Royal Family, by Ellen Heilmann

Ellen Heilmann’s layout is a selection of three American nutwood stools, each topped with a cushion upholstered in emerald-green cotton. Together they form a modular system; every part may be used separately as seating or as a table. The set has a uniform decorative, while every piece has its own individuality, similar to a household.

Heilmann is graduated in the product design program in Germany’s Offenbach Academy of Art and Design.

Can you attend IMM Cologne this year? Please discuss your photos under.

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