On January 29, Flanders DC announced the new Henry van de Velde Gold Award Winners of 2019. These “Oscars” for good design are the oldest design awards in our country and take place every year at BOZAR Brussels. Last year the Limburg designers and design companies performed particularly well. Topping this was not going to be easy. An overview of the winners.

The professional jury presented 12 awards. The Lifetime Achievement award went to Vincent Van Duysen this year. The architect-designer – also artistic director at the Italian label Molteni & C – received the award for his oeuvre and his refined aesthetic vision. Bart Lens was honoured with this award last year.

Company of this year is De Zetel. This West Flemish family business specializes in the production of chairs. Their collection also includes designs by Studio Segers. The design award for Young Talent did not go to one promising designer, but to a collective: BRUT Collective. In it we find some links to our Province, because in addition to Ben Storm, Charlotte Jonckheer, Linde Freya Tangelder and Nel Verbeke, Cédric Etienne (Studio Corkinho) and Bram Vanderbeke are also part of the collective.

Cédric Etienne laid the foundation in 2013 for his Studio Corkinho as a laureate of MARKED, the talent-coaching program of the city of Genk and the Province of Limburg. Bram Vanderbeke is involved in FORMAT, the new guidance program of Z33 and successor of Applied. Bram Vanderbeke will be responsible for the scenography of the FORMAT exhibition that will open this autumn in the brand new Z33 building.

Although Velda’s Resleep van Veldeman Bedding was in the running, the OVAM Ecodesign prize went to the HNST Jeans collection. Barco’s UniSee platform was awarded the Business award and the Community Award was awarded the Kannunik Petrus Jozef Triest Plein in Melle; a design by Architects De Vylder Vinck Taillieu.

The Consumer Award was for Acacia, an asymmetrical parasol by Dirk Wynants and his outdoor label Extremis. The award for best graphics & packaging went to the Ghent agency Superset for their role in making Frieke Jannsen’s book The Sweetest Taboo (Lannoo).

In the category Habitat, the suspension lamp Marbul Suspension Adjustable by Jeffrey Huyghe for Modular was put in the spotlight. In Health & Wellbeing Studio Dott was awarded for their ‘sleep quality meter’ for Belun Technology Company.

Addax Motors was awarded in the Mobility category. Until recently, the electric vans were assembled at SML in Genk, although Addax decided to concentrate its entire production in Deerlijk at the end of last year. The Audience vote went to the M7, the new double-decker train from NMBS, a design by Yellow Window with Axel Enthoven and Eric Govers for Bombardier.

As always, the Henry van de Velde Awards are accompanied by an exhibition in De Foyers by BOZAR. This exhibition will run until March 24 and can be visited for free from Tuesday to Sunday (from 10 am to 6 pm) and even until 9 pm on Thursday evenings.

www.henryvandevelde.be