Virtual winner's podium – the ICONIC AWARDS 2022: Innovative Interior (1/9)

Ordinarily, it represents a fixed date in the annual design calendar, with no visit to imm cologne being complete without also checking out the award ceremony and prize-winners' exhibition of the German Design Council's ICONIC AWARDS: Innovative Interior. But with the fair having been cancelled for the second year in a row, this sadly also means no ceremony in 2022, either. Nonetheless, it is our pleasure to honour the winners here.

Despite the overall diversity of the numerous submissions, a closer look reveals some concrete tendencies which unite them. Not only that, as in the previous year, a number of products have been created in direct response to the new circumstances with which the Corona pandemic has confronted us, from hygiene aids to home office furniture. The German Design Council has been able to define four clear trends from this.

Trend number one is entitled 'Smart Together'. What would we be during this pandemic without our digital tools for video conferencing, without online mail-order companies, food delivery services or never-ending streaming sites? And even our furnishings have long since become increasingly digital and smart. In industrial and product design, too, sensors and app control, electronic services, internet-based programmes and cloud computing are playing an increasing role.

At Italian manufacturer Elica, for example, the Ikona Maxxi Pure kitchen hood not only extracts cooking fumes, it is also equipped with an air purifier that effectively and silently filters pollutants and allergens from the air. And the concept of 'touch-free' also seems to have taken on a new significance during these times. Danish brand Vola proves that hand disinfection is not only pragmatic but can also be elegant with its RS11 dispenser for disinfectant gel, foam and liquid soap. German manufacturer Schell is also focused on smart hygiene by equipping its Grandis E kitchen tap with an infrared sensor for touch-free operation. In addition, the electronically controlled fitting performs stagnation flushing and thermal disinfection on request, can be networked with the help of Schell's SWS water management system and thus ideal for use in public and commercial spaces with high footfall and hygiene requirements.

Just as the pandemic has limited our range of movement, relaxation, sport and leisure opportunities, it has also had an effect on our perception of excess. The new credo is reduction to the essentials, summed up nicely in the well-known phrase 'less is more'. A new simplicity paired with cool and muted colours and a focus on honest materiality is reflected in submissions such as Reform's Reflect kitchen furniture by Jean Nouvel with its reflective steel fronts. Simplicity and minimalism is also in evidence in the Reflex² Floor ceiling washer by Serien Lighting and Baltensweiler's LINIjA floor lamp.

'Homo movens' is a third trend that has been identified. Not just since Corona, but certainly intensified by the pandemic, people will have to throw overboard the idea that their familiar living environments will remain certain and the same, forever. For some, new and often more exciting tasks lie ahead, and many will permanently break away from the idea of a fixed office workplace. This requires flexibility, and also on the part of the things that surround us. Desks like La Punt by Girsberger can disguise themselves as slim storage consoles and modular furniture such as the Zero shelving system by Emuca is fixed between the floor and ceiling without the need for tools and thus fits in with practically any use of space.

What remains is how things look on the surface. 'Material innovations', as the fourth trend shows, are and will remain the drivers of design. They determine new forms, but also set standards in terms of greater resource conservation and a better climate balance. For example, the Peel lounge chair by Vank is made from veneer remnants, using innovative micro-slitting technology that makes it possible to create striking, wave-like curves. Polymer specialist Rehau, meanwhile, offers architects and planners high-quality surfaces, edgebanding, roller shutter systems and wall connection profiles from a single source and mould with its Edelmatt collection, so making material and colour discontinuities a thing of the past.

In the coming weeks, all the award winners will be presented here on Architonic, sorted by product groups and themes. The next feature will look at the concept of simplicity – currently the focus of a strikingly growing number of products.

© Architonic