The submission periods for the 2020 Golden Pin Design Award and Golden Pin Concept Design Award are drawing to a close. The two awards highlight 12 exciting entries to promote the awards’ final Call for Entries this year, which will both close in early July.
Since the two awards opened for submissions in March, the organizer has received thousands of entries from Canada, Japan, Thailand, the United States, Singapore, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Malaysia, Poland, Iran, Kenya, mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Indonesia, and Brunei. Among these entrants are global brands such as the Rado Uhren AG, BenQ Corporation, Hitachi, Tmall.com, Hotel W Taipei and Shenzhen TCL Digital Technology Co., Ltd. etc. These high-caliber entrants will vie for the top prize at this year’s awards ceremony.
Golden Pin Design Award 2020
❚ Product Design Category
Brinouva UV LED Portable Air Sterilizer
- Country/region: Taiwan
- Design Company: Award-Design Integration Studio
- Client: NKFG Corporation
NKFG Corporation, a joint venture between Taiwan’s Formosa Petrochemical Corporation and Japan’s Nikkiso Co., Ltd., submitted a number of sterilization devices under the Brinouva brand for the first time this year. One of NKFG’s entries, its “UV LED Portable Air Sterilizer,” has been generating quite the buzz. It integrates an air purifier with UVC germicidal irradiation in a slim and lightweight device perfect for sterilization on the go.
Ginkgo Chair
- Country/region: Mainland China
- Design Company: Side Design
- Client: SIDE INDUSTRY (SHANGHAI) Co., Ltd.
Side Furniture, based in Shanghai, mainland China, has launched the “Ginkgo Chair,” which features steam-bent woodwork and butterfly mortise-and-tenon joints in place of commonly used plastic materials. The result is a modern, simple chair that enfolds the user in comfort. These chairs can be stacked for storage, and their components can be disassembled for recycling.
❚ Communication Design Category
SRISANGDAO Rice
- Country/region: Thailand
- Design Company: Prompt Design
- Client: Srisangdow Ricemill Co., Ltd.
Thailand’s Prompt Design Agency is contending for the top prize with its packaging design for “SRISANGDAO Rice”. The majority of the packaging material is sourced from the bran leftover from the rice milling process. The recyclable, eco-friendly design clearly communicates the organic nature of the product to consumers. It can even be reused as a tissue box cover thanks to its ingeniously designed shape and size.
Spaceman
- Country/region: Taiwan
- Design Company: Grass Jelly Studio
- Client: The Harlequin’s Carnival Ltd.
Taiwan’s Grass Jelly Studio has submitted the “Spaceman” music video it produced for Wu Qing-Feng, one of renowned singer-songwriter in Asia. The production team created an otherworldly visual experience that blends reality with fantasy to intensify the emotions of the story told through the song.
Junior High School Contact Book
- Country/region: Taiwan
- Design Company: HOUTH
- Client: Education Department of New Taipei City Government
The junior high school contact book is known as a communication book between students, teachers and parents in Taiwan. Is it possible to make it more beautiful and educational? The Education Department of New Taipei City Government has invited HOUTH to redesign this student supply used to be considered tedious. In order to showcase the different cover visual format and style, HOUTH use geometric shapes as the key elements in book covers to create the vivid eye catching new covers. It’s also a good opportunity to help students develop and build up the aesthetic sense.
❚ Spatial Design Category
Little Shelter Hotel
- Country/region: Thailand
- Design Company: Department of ARCHITECTURE
- Client: Little Shelter Co., Ltd.
Thailand’s famed design studio Department of ARCHITECTURE entered its revolutionary design for the Little Shelter Hotel. The building itself features a sparkling exterior made up of the wooden shingles commonly found in northern Thai architecture and translucent polycarbonate panels with a futuristic vibe. Inside, the hotel is filled with imagery that evokes Bo Sang paper umbrellas and Pha Chor Canyon in a modern interpretation of Chiang Mai’s natural beauty and cultural heritage.
LivinGreen
- Country/region: Taiwan
- Design Company: 2byWu&Chen
- Client: LivinGreen
“2 by Wu&Chen,” an emerging Taiwanese design studio, transformed a 60-year old Japanese-style police station and dormitory building into a Taiwanese diner with lush greenery dotted throughout the premises. The project, aptly named “LivinGreen,” breathes new life into an old building while preserving many of its original materials and architectural attributes.
❚ Integration Design Category
Design Movement on Campus: Pingtung DaTung Senior High School Project
- Country/region: Taiwan
- Design Company: NDD DESIGN TAINAN Co., Ltd.
- Client: DaTung Senior High School
Taiwan’s Ndd Design submitted its “Pingtung DaTong Senior High School Project,” a part of the Ministry of Education’s Design Movement on Campus program, for consideration. By applying design ingenuity to storage spaces, the team reimagined the school’s system for storing its cleaning supplies to promote self-management by the students and inspire them to see beauty in the little things in life.
Golden Pin Concept Design Award 2020
❚ Product Design Category
air form
- Country/region: Japan
- Designer(s): Xiu-Lai Zhou
Xiu-Lai Zhou’s “air form” drew inspiration from vacuum storage bags. A specially designed flat material in a sealed polybag can be transformed into a three-dimensional stool by drawing out the air from the attached valve with a vacuum. No adhesives or complicated assembly are necessary, making this stool practical to use and convenient to carry along.
Be Only Flesh and Blood
- Country/region: Taiwan
- Designer(s): I-Mor Liao, Bo-Qiang Huang
I-Mor Liao and Bo-Qiang Huang’s “Be Only Flesh and Blood” is a collection of masterfully crafted soaps with a striking resemblance to skin tissue specimens. This bold, avant-garde design presentation is a social commentary on stigmatizing and stereotyping based on nothing more than skin.
❚ Communication Design Category
Design of Buddhism Universal Identification Mark
- Country/region: Taiwan
- Designer(s): Meng-Ju Kuo
Meng-Ju Kuo’s “Design of Buddhism Universal Identification Mark” is a lively reinterpretation of classic Buddhist figures, elements, and symbols with a modern Eastern twist.
❚ Integration Design Category
The Unknown Moment
- Country/region: Taiwan
- Designer(s): Chih-Wei Hsu
Chih-Wei Hsu’s “The Unknown Moment” Project, is an attempt at an experimental platform where people can share their deepest secrets in complete anonymity, while the audience vicariously experiences others’ stories through the intricately designed exhibits. The dynamically controlled lighting creates a mysterious atmosphere that is sure to leave a deep impression on the audience’s mind. Hsu envisions a safe space in which the inhibitions of modern society can be set free.
Final Call of the Two Awards
The clock is ticking down for submissions to the 2020 Golden Pin Design Award and Golden Pin Concept Design Award!
The Golden Pin Design Award honors exceptional designs that have already been brought to market or actually executed. This year, in light of the global pandemic, entrants with epidemic prevention-related designs may qualify for a registration fee waiver. The submission deadline for the award is 5:00 p.m., Thursday, July 9th (GMT+8 Taipei).
The Golden Pin Concept Design Award calls for innovative design concepts that have not yet been mass produced, sold on the market, commissioned by a client, or otherwise commercially executed. Cash prizes totaling NT$ 1,200,000 (approx. US$ 41,000) await visionary designers from around the world. The submission deadline for the award is 5:00 p.m., Wednesday, July 15th (GMT+8 Taipei).
Regarding submission, please visit the Golden Pin Design Award official website (https://www.goldenpin.org.tw/en/) for more information!
