The "Product Design" category of the 2009 Sachsen Design Prize, as announced in Dresden Wednesday evening, produced a somewhat curious result: no winner but two second places.
Which aside from being ridiculous is a real slap in the face for the product design community in Sachsen.
For those who don't know we live in Sachsen,; learned our trade here; took the knocks, got back up and tried again here.
The region is branded on every part of our bodies and our souls. And we now where the weaknesses in terms of design in Sachsen are.
But it isn't the designers - and the judges don't do the designers any favours with such an appalling decision.
A competition needs a winner; otherwise it's a simple PR exercise.
And not a particularly well organised one and that. Sachsen is a county rich in design tradition - from the wood carvers in the Erzgebirge, over the ceramic makers in Meissen and on to the book printers in Leipzig: Sachsen understands and appreciates good design. And good design involves, indeed lives from, trying, failing, trying again, failing again, trying again, failing again, self-doubt, self-doubt, trying again, failing again, trying again....succeeding.
It's like being a war photographer - your either in it for the long run or you go and get a job with an insurance firm.
We also weren't that impressed with this years nominations. But that's not the point.
Some years will be stronger than others; it is in the nature of design. The point is that the best must be chosen from the nominations; hard decisions must be made....
We're at a loss. Sadly no one in Dresden was.
