TECHO wins a prestigious red dot design award for the WOT desk

PRAGUE, 19 March 2010 – Interior furnishing company TECHO has won a prestigious red dot award, one of the most prestigious international awards for industrial design, for its universal desking system WOT The prize is awarded annually by the Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen in Essen, Germany. WOT received an award on the basis of assessment by a jury of thirty leading designers and design experts from over 20 countries.

„This is the second time we have managed to receive this important international award. The first time was in 2003 for the innovative design of the Focus desk. It was the first Czech product in the almost fifty-year history of the competition to win a red dot award” states Jiří Kejval, CEO TECHO.

Leading Czech design studio ADR, led by Petr Kolar and Ales Lapka, worked on the simple and elegant design of the WOT desk system „I like simple forms that are completely subordinate to function. The new engineering solution of the desktop material helped to achieve this, and it is also environmentally friendly, which is a challenge for the future,“ Says Petr Kolář from ADR. Renowned Dutch architect Hans Verboom, who has designed several TECHO desk systems, was responsible for the technical side of the design. “Thanks to the use of an ultra light sandwich desktop with an aluminium honeycomb core, a whole range of new opportunities presented themselves. The desktop is self supporting so no frame is required and material savings of 30% are possible” states Hans Verboom.

„All products that have won an award in the red dot design award had to convince an international expert jury of their quality. The products stand out from the masses with their excellent design and innovative approaches, and proved their quality in one of the toughest design competitions worldwide,” explains design expert Professor Dr. Peter Zec, president of the red dot design GmbH & Co. KG. This year, designers and companies from 57 nations with a total of 4,252 products took part in the “red dot award: product design.

The festive awards presentation with more than 1,000 guests will take place in the Essen opera house, the Aalto-Theater, on 5 July 2010. In Essen, Germany, the 2010 European Capital of Culture.

The WOT desk, along with other award-winning products, will be on display from 6 July to 1 August 2010 in the exhibition „Design on stage – winners red dot award: product design 2010" at the red dot design museum on the premises of the ‘Zeche Zollverein’ World Cultural Heritage Site in Essen. With approximately 1,500 products on more than 4,000 square metres, the red dot design museum houses the largest permanent exhibition of contemporary design worldwide.

Press information:
TECHO, a. s., is the leading company providing comprehensive services in the area of supplying commercial interiors in Central and Eastern Europe and is also a major producer of office furniture in the Czech Republic. Its clients include major banks, financial institutions, international companies and government organisations. Today it has branches in Great Britain, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Croatia, Russia, Georgia and Ukraine. Since 2008 it has been part of the Dutch concern Royal Ahrend NV, which is one of the five largest producers of office furniture in Europe.

The red dot design award, the origins of which go back to 1955, is the largest and most renowned design competition worldwide. It consists of the individual disciplines “red dot award: product design”, “red dot award: communication design”, and “red dot award: design concept”. In 2009 the competition recorded about 12,000 entries from more than 60 nations.

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Hana Šimůnková
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