What is the form of simplicity? And how can it make life better? Red Dot will present an ode to the motto “less, but better” later this month with an exhibition of around 150 products at the China International Exhibition Center in Beijing.

The Form of Simplicity. Good Design for a Better Quality of Life will explore how various products (from cutlery to bicycles, furniture, lamps and consumer electronics) have transformed with industrialisation to attain a new level of simplicity.

Apple’s iPhone of 2007

Historic and contemporary products will be compared, highlighting differences in form and function and the evolution of simplicity. Among them will be design classics such as Thonet’s Viennese café-style chair, Artemide’s Tolomeo lamo and Apple’s iPhone.

In the Bauhaus era, says Red Dot, the guiding principle “less is more” played an essential role in the reduction of things to their essence. Now, against today’s more complex backdrop of digitalisation and technical innovation, says Red Dot, designers have adapted this adage to “less, but better” – enriched quality and comfort despite the simplified design language.

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Simplicity should not be seen as the opposite of complexity today, but as its successful design.

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WMF’s Lyric cutlery by Mocca Design

A message of the exhibition will be that although products may look simpler today than they did in the past, this outward clarity comes with the input of much greater effort from designers. Today’s designer must not only design the casing for the technology, but also the interfaces and apps that are used to control it. But ultimately, today’s ‘simplified’ products allow a better quality of life.

The Form of Simplicity. Good Design for a Better Quality of Life will be on show from 27 to 30 September as part of the 2018 Beijing International Home Decoration and Smart Home Exhibition & International Design Expo. The exhibition has been organised by Red Dot Projects (Singapore) on behalf of Beijing Easyhome Investment Holding Group.

A publication of the same name (written by Prof. Dr Peter Zec, founder and CEO of the Red Dot Award, and Burkhard Jacob, Managing Director of the Red Dot Institute) will be launched on 27 September under Red Dot’s imprint. It will be released in Chinese and English and will be available online in the Red Dot Shop.

Artemide’s Tolomeo Tavolo designed by Michele de Lucchi. Image copyright Artemide Pregnana Milanese

Drawings copyright Achta Design. Images courtesy of Red Dot.