03.12.2009

There’s hardly a design brand on this earth that has such an amazing and incomparable network full to the brim with designers, creative beings, artists, and architects. More than 300 designers are all doing their bit for the success of the RITZENHOFF brand.

RITZENHOFF likes to stay in close contact with a large number of designers in Milan, plainly the design metropolis. This is the inspiration that saw the start of a project with the students at the IED Milano. The IED - Istituto Europeo di Design - stands for, among other things, a sophisticated and didactical programme. The international industrial and product design students, and their unique and individual cultural backgrounds, are simply perfect for RITZENHOFF, who is out to find and foster the young design talents of the future.

The first joint project is already in motion and being supported by Gabriel Weirich, who is both a lecturer at the IED and a design consultant for RITZENHOFF. 15 students were briefed to design a so-called centrepiece for RITZENHOFF. A centrepiece “table object” is actually a true challenge within itself. Its functionality has not been set down this time round. So, it might be that a bowl, vase, cake stand or candleholder – or maybe even a combination of some of these embodies this centrepiece. A centrepiece draws our attention to the table, and creates a symbiotic relationship with it.

The choice of the main material was predetermined and is acrylic, whereby it may be used in combination with metal, wood, or glass.

The first step saw the students each present their three designs. The jury then picked one of the three designs, which is now to be turned into an object: step two of this competition. The three best designs will be nominated at the Ambiente fair in Frankfurt in February, and then presented to the public thereafter.

Visitors to the fair get to pick their favourite, which will then subsequently be made and sold by RITZENHOFF.