2012 Designs of the Year
Published
By
jesse
The Olympic Torch, a wind-propelled Landmine Detonator and Zaha Hadid’s Guangzhou Opera House – Design Museum, London announces the works that have made the longlist.
The Design Museum has released the longlist for its 5th annual Designs of the Year Awards.
In keeping with its pledge to recognise the best designs around the world, the award covers a respectable 7 categories: architecture, digital, fashion, furniture, graphics, products and transport.

Folly for a Flyover, London, UK by Assemble CIC
The wide-ranging list of nominees this year include the Olympic Torch 2012 for London by Barber Osgerby, the Duchess of Cambridge’s Wedding Dress by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen, and a wind-propelled Landmine Detonator, which cost $40 to produce.

Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty, The Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum, New York, USA
Nominations from Asia include Zaha Hadid’s Guangzhou Opera House, the Homeplus Tesco Virtual Store, South Korea, The Crates by Naihan Li & Co, China, and 132.5 by Miyake Design Studio, Japan.

The Crates, Beijing, China by Naihan Li & Co

Homeplus Tesco Virtual Store, Seoul, South Korea
The 7 category winners and overall Design of the Year will be announced on 24 April.
Yves Béhar, who won the inaugural Design of the Year in 2008 for his One Laptop per Child, continues his run of being nominated each year since the award’s inception. This time, it’s for his Jawbone JAMBOX wireless music speaker (below). Past top winners also include the Obama election poster (2009), a ‘folding’ plug (2010), and the Plumen Lightbulb (2011).

Jawbone JAMBOX wireless speaker by Yves Béhar
All the nominations will be on show at the Design Museum’s Designs of the Year exhibition from 8 February – 15 July 2012. For more information, visit designmuseum.org
Top image: Guangzhou Opera House, China by Zaha Hadid Architects
Related Articles

Events
A rollicking good story with Richards Stanisich and Royal Oak Floors
Jonathan Richards and Kirsten Stanisich discussed practice, design process and the business of running a studio at a live audience event hosted by Royal Oak Floors in Sydney.

Events
Indesign x Wilkhahn: Melbourne, where are you working?
Our latest collaboration saw a range of designers come together at Wilkhahn’s Melbourne showroom for a discussion on the workplace dynamics specific to the Victorian capital.

Events
“A journey into a whole new material world”: Plant Life at the NGV
Curator Ewan McEoin tells us about the NGV’s new exhibition on plant-based materials as alternatives to plastics, synthetic materials and other non-renewable resources.

Ideas
Beyond the panel: What makes a design event worth attending?
Ahead of Saturday Indesign, architects reflect on why smaller gatherings, unexpected voices, candid discussion and meaningful follow-up can make meeting in person genuinely worthwhile.