01 June 2009

AIDA Presentation Night

It was a mixture of euphoria and a few words in French which marked the presentation of the 2009 Australian International Design Award (AIDA) winners.

Held at the Docklands’ 1 Central Pier, the AIDA awards evening was a big success - for both the guests and the swag of happy award-winners.

The compère for the event was the witty and highly entertaining Julia Zemiro, popular host of SBS’s RocKwiz.

Despite having just flown in from Europe (where she’d hosted Eurovision), Zemiro was in top form, slipping between English and French with stunning ease as she presented awards across 11 categories.

Zemiro kept the show rolling as entrees, dinner and dessert were served to hundreds of guests sitting around a sea of tables.

Taking out the Award of the Year was the ‘Qantas A380 Economy Seat’ by Marc Newson in collaboration with Qantas Airways & Recaro Aircraft Seating.

Newson’s design, which focussed on ergonomics and comfort for long haul flight passengers, was commended for its new and innovative approach.

Judging panellist, Michelle Berryman, described the seat as a remarkable product.

"I don’t think at the start of the week I even considered that it might be one of the finalists, let alone the grand prize winner,” said Berryman.

“Every single time I looked at the seat, every time I sat down in it, every time I read through the entry kit there was some new detail that I discovered or one of the other jurors discovered... They designed everything about this. It really did look like a fresh approach."

As the evening came to an end, guests swarmed around the product prototypes on display, many lining up to put the ‘A380 Economy Seat’ to the test.

The winners in the Architecture and Interior products section were:

Australian International Design Award

EcoSmart Fire "Zeta"
Hum. Minds at Work
MYTO Cantilever Chair
Sense

Australian International Design Mark

New york guggenheim museum lamp
Warrior
X-System
Duette architella fabric
Embody

The 2009 AIDA for Excellence in Sustainable Design went to the Electrolux 2008 Refrigeration Collection. While emerging Victorian designer, Robert Dumaresq took out the James Dyson Award for his ‘Switch Commuter Bike’.

For the full list of winners across all categories click here.