Celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, Good Design Australia has received a record 530 entries for its awards, making the 2018 event even more special.
Representing the highest number in the program’s 60 year history, standout entries include an eco-cup made from coffee bean husk and Wrap’d, a unique Australian design that holds your wrap together neatly while you eat and can be sealed back up and saved for later.
“2018 is a very important year for Australian design,” says Dr Brandon Gien, CEO of Good Design Australia. “It marks how far Australia as a nation and a society has come since post-war 1958 when the Industrial Design Council was first created.
“Good Design Australia is launching a number of exciting initiatives to help position design and design-led innovation on the national agenda. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to promote the importance of design in driving better outcomes for the future prosperity of our world.”
The awards recognise the achievements of designers across more than 30 categories including housewares and objects, and furniture and lighting. As part of the 60th anniversary, a number of new awards and initiatives have been introduced such as new categories for fashion design and engineering design and new accolades to celebrate the expanding role of design in helping shape a better, safer and more prosperous world.
The actual award has gone through some changes as well, with the new trophy being sustainably designed using a combination of discarded plastic harvested from the ocean and a plant-based bio-resin that will be injection moulded into a ‘Good Design Tick’.
“Designers play a critical role in deciding what material to use and specify when designing and manufacturing products and in many cases, these materials can be harmful to our environment. Our oceans are currently being polluted with single-use plastic with recent studies predicting that by 2050 there will be more plastic in our oceans than fish.
“Designers and manufacturers have the choice to use recycled, renewable, bio-based materials that reduce the dependence on fossil fuel based products and materials that will never break down. By utilising sustainably designed materials, the new trophy embodies Good Design Australia’s mission to create a better, safer and more sustainable world, through design,” adds Gien.
Winners will be announced at the 2018 Good Design Awards ceremony at the Sydney Opera House on 17 May.
By Marion Gerritsen
