It is that time of the year again, the winners of the Henry van de Velde Awards have just been announced. As usual, there is a wide range of intriguing ideas and projects in the various categories - Business Innovation, Consumer, Crafts, Design Research, Digital Product, Environment, Graphics, Habitat and Spaces.
The final selection wasn't easy as the jury had to go through 435 entries, but the projects selected are innovative and inspiring and go from an advanced system to collect batteries (Pars Pro Toto by Bebat - recyclable steel drums with an active Internet of Things (IoT) system that monitors both filling level and temperature and prevents accident during transport) to a medical device called Morphemat® that allows healthcare providers in Intensive Care Units (ICU) to lift and change the position of patients of up to 150 kg effortlessly (and if you have ever assisted someone who is bed-ridden you know that, while there are special mattresses to avoid pressure ulcers and improve oxygenation, changing the position of the patient is not easy and can put a strain on the time and the health of care providers).
In the Design Research category there is a project that may change the perspective on colours of ordinary people, and of designers in particular.
"Ecology of Colour" is a project by Maria Boto, a researcher at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts (KASK)/School of Arts of University College Ghent, Heleen Sintobin, design researcher at Laboratorium, biolab of KASK and a lecturer in Autonomous Design at KASK, and Laboratorium, an experimental bio laboratory for art, design and biotechnology of KASK & Conservatorium.
The research examines the environmental impact of the colour industry and tries to develop a sustainable approach to colours.
Boto, Sintobin and Laboratorium have indeed been working on developing ecological inks with pigments from microalgae on the one hand (Laboratorium has so far developed beautiful notebooks printed with microalgae pigments, but also a watercolor palette) and, applying them to various materials (paper, textile and bioplastic, for example) and through various techniques (screen printing, digital printing, painting, 3D printing...), creating a sustainable palette of structural colours found in nature.
In living creatures, structural coloration is the production of colour by microscopically structured surfaces fine enough to interfere with visible light.
These structures are made up of simple biological building blocks - such as cellulose, chitin, keratin and melanin, biodegradable and non-toxic biomaterials - that are common in nature.
Using nanotechnology, Laboratorium cultivates an ecological and sustainable color palette of structural colours, growing these iridescent colours inspired by living creatures such as hummingbirds, beetles and blue morpho butterflies, from black melanine.
In the last few months, Laboratorium tried to capture structural colours by growing them onto glass, porcelain, textile and PLA.
This research bridges nature and design, combining together arts, science, technology and biotechnology, categories that will be blended together even more in future years to create innovative products and exciting jobs.
We will find out who will be taking home the Gold, Silver and Bronze Awards per category during the presentation of the Henry van de Velde Awards on 8th February at Bozar, in Brussels, Belgium. The Lifetime Achievement, Young Talent, Company, Ecodesign by OVAM and Public Gold Awards will also be announced then.
In the meantime, we can all help determine which entry wins the Public Gold Award by voting online at henryvandevelde.be from today till 23rd December 2021.
Comments