Beech Design Award 2008: prizewinners named…

The Beech Design Award 2008 at www.european-beech.com was awarded on October 30^th of 2008 by Pollmeier Massivholz GmbH & Co. Kg, the market leader for beech lumber. The first prize, worth 2,500 Euro, went to Christian Felsch von Wild from Braunschweig. The mechanical engineer and graduate designer registered for the competition with his innovative music stand “Stativ-ari”. With its curved form, the note stand is reminiscent of a string instrument and is particularly suited to professional musicians, offering plenty of space for a large volume of sheet music or work material. The inclination of the beech plywood frame can be individually adjusted to ensure ergonomic posture and the height of the illuminated note stand can also be altered. Christian Felsch von Wild is co-owner of the design and planning office [ardey:felsch] and has undertaken commissions for the Braunschweig University of Visual Arts, the Technical University of Braunschweig and the Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel University of Applied Sciences. Further information on the winner of our first prize is available at www.ardey-felsch.de. Second prize went to the interior designer Martin Prott from Bad Driburg, who entered his “Space Saving Media Storage Unit”. The Tv unit comprises two parts: a white body made of varnished Mdf and a u-shaped frame of solid redheart beech. If so desired, the white body can be parked in the frame, thus reducing the length by half. Martin Prott is the owner of the company Innenausbau Prott. For more information on the winner of our second prize please go to www.prott.org. The third prize was won by Jürgen Bauer-Loges, Managing Director of the company Holzmanufaktur in Stuttgart. Jürgen Bauer-Loges was awarded the prize for his “Zen-10” bed. The name of this solid wood bed of redheart beech, which may be easily dismantled, says it all: “Zen” stands for calm and clarity, while the number “10” represents the width of the individual wood slats with which the sides of the bed are made. For more information, please go to www.holzmanufaktur.com. A total of 126 projects from all over the world were entered for the Beech Design Award 2008. All of them impressively demonstrate that there are hardly any limits to the ways in which beech can be used. Gilded beds from India, interior design of Italian churches as well as furniture, children’s toys, board games, staircases, bar counters, shop fittings and many other projects were all presented at www.european-beech.com. Now, after the prizes have been awarded, the Beech Design Award webpage remains an interesting platform for the exchange of creative suggestions and ideas. The webpage has over 5,000 visitors every month.