Materia short-listed for the Grand Award of Design
2010-05-04
First furniture company ever to be nominated
Materia is one of five companies to be nominated for the prestigious Grand Award of Design presented by Teknikföretagen. This is the first time ever that a furniture company has been short-listed.
“We are tremendously proud of reaching the final round. It’s further acknowledgement that Materia’s consistent design management gets results”, says Lars Bülow, CEO of the Materia Group.
The Grand Award of Design, awarded to Swedish companies and their design providers, has in the past always been given to strongly technology-based companies such as Volvo and Sony Ericsson. When the nominations were announced today, a furniture company and a furniture designer were among the candidates for the first time. Materia’s product, the Subway magazine holder, was designed by Thomas Bernstrand, who ranks this nomination highly.
“It’s really great to see that it’s not just a matter of the design itself, they are trying to spread the message to industry that design is important from a profitability angle”, he says.
The award aims to highlight how important industrial design is for product development and profitability. That’s something that fits in well with Materia’s ethos.
“It’s important for Sweden’s competitiveness that company managements begin to treat design as an investment rather than a cost. We see a clear link between our design work and our profitability. The fact that design management plays a part in the whole process is the main reason why we are growing so strongly on the export markets and are also recording excellent financial results”, says Lars Bülow.
The jury’s justification for the nomination was:
“A magazine holder that’s not just a magazine holder, but also a display area for magazines. Subway leads us to think of classical advertising pillars in the city centre. Its function is just as obvious as a morning paper on the breakfast table. In all its simplicity, Subway is an expressive and welcoming feature in all types of public spaces.”
The Grand Award of Design is awarded by Teknikföretagen in association with the Swedish Industrial Design Foundation (SVID) and Svensk Form. The winner will be announced in conjunction with the Swedish championship in UF Företagande (young entrepreneurs’ forum) at the Stockholm Fair on May 11.
For more information, contact Lars Bülow, 0705-38 56 05, or Thomas Bernstrand, 0704-24 05 00.
Materia, based in Tranås, is one of Scandinavia’s most celebrated brands of designer furniture for public spaces. Materia has always been a forerunner in developing new approaches to furniture concepts for companies keenly aware of design and culture – “furniture for creative meeting places”.
The company is part of the Materia Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Kinnarps Furniture Group.
Materia had a turnover of SEK 140 million and net operating profits of SEK 19.9 million in 2009.
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