At the Red Dot Design Award ceremony on 24 June 2024, international design greats came together in Essen to celebrate the winners of this year’s competition. Outstanding chief designers from global brands such as Fiskars, Hilti, Ducati, Philips, LIXIL, Thule and Logitech accepted the invitation.
The first part of the ceremony took place in Essen’s opera house, the Aalto Theatre. The subsequent after-show party took place in and around the Red Dot Design Museum, which is located on the site of the Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex.
Red Dot Gala at the Essen Opera House
At 6 p.m. sharp on 24 June, the lights in the hall of the theatre designed by Alvar Aalto went dark. After a grand opening, Professor Dr Peter Zec, founder and CEO of Red Dot, welcomed around 1,300 guests to the Red Dot Gala 2024. The Red Dot Gala has been held at the Essen Opera House for 30 years. Lord Mayor Thomas Kufen also focussed on this long-standing partnership in his speech. After the opening words, the first round of the award ceremony began. Together with the Italian juror Luisa Bocchietto, Peter Zec presented the first trophies to the winners of the Red Dot: Best of the Best. This was followed by the presentation of trophies by the jurors Omri Bar-Zeev from Israel and Nina Mihovec from Slovenia, who both took on this task for the first time as part of the Red Dot Jury.
International design greats at the award ceremony
The Red Dot Trophy is awarded exclusively to the winners of the highest distinction, the Red Dot: Best of the Best. This year, manufacturers and designers from 20 nations were delighted to receive this special honour. The winners came from China, Japan, Korea, the United Arab Emirates, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Finland, Italy, Liechtenstein, the Netherlands, Norway, Austria, Sweden, Switzerland, Slovenia, Spain, the USA and Australia. Most of the winners were able to attend the award ceremony live, and guests from 20 other countries were also present, giving the event an international appeal.
Performance by the Aalto Ballet
The Aalto Ballet ensemble delighted the audience at the Red Dot Gala with a performance of their piece “In-Between”. In his piece, choreographer Armen Hakobyan impressively depicts the phenomenon of sleep paralysis in the phase from falling asleep to waking up. The gala guests enthusiastically applauded this cultural addition to the award ceremony.
Title of honour for Thule Design Team
The ceremonial conclusion of the gala was the honouring of the Thule Design Team as “Red Dot: Design Team of the Year 2024”. The honorary title recognises Thule’s tireless commitment to innovative design and functional excellence as well as its deep understanding of customer needs. The Swedish brand, which stands for outdoor adventure and lifestyle, is the global market leader for sports and cargo carriers and offers a wide range of high-quality outdoor products.
The award ceremony was introduced by a very personal speech by David Stener, who, as a long-time companion of Thule, had a lot to say about the development history of the products as well as the brand and the Thule Design Team.
Henrik Eriksson, Global Design Director of the Thule Group, and his team finally accepted the “Radius” challenge cup from Malachy Spollen, Head of Design & Brand Innovation at Logitech, on the stage of the Aalto Theatre. Thule thus succeeds Logitech Design as the new title holder.
Designers’ Night – after-show party between design and culture
After the award ceremony, it was on to the after-show party, which took place in and around the Red Dot Design Museum on the site of the disused Zollverein Coal Mine Industrial Complex. From a tour of the museum to a relaxed end to the evening in the beer garden and exuberant partying, there was something for everyone. DJ CHRISSI D fuelled the party atmosphere on the dance floor in the middle of the museum and kept the guests dancing until the early hours of the morning.
Exclusively for the night of the award ceremony, award-winning vehicles from all classes were presented in a hall over 50 metres long, including the Ferrari Roma Spider, the MG Cyberster, the PEUGEOT E-3008 and the Ducati Diavel V4. Guests were also able to marvel at exhibits around the Red Dot Design Museum, such as the impressive TATRA FORCE 4×4 fire engine from the Czech Republic and the Vista XL roof tent from the Netherlands.
Opening of the special exhibitions
The centrepiece of the after-show party was the Red Dot Design Museum. For the first time, guests had the opportunity to view the award-winning products of this year’s winners. The exhibition on the first floor, “Milestones in Contemporary Design”, presents the best products of 2024 – the current milestones in international product design, which were selected by an international jury in the 51 categories of the competition. Around 1,500 other products honoured in the Red Dot Award: Product Design 2024 will also be presented in the special exhibition “Design on Stage” on five floors of the Red Dot Design Museum. Both exhibitions are open to visitors until 1 June 2025.
The special exhibition “Thule Design Team – Designing for an active life” was specially curated by the Red Dot: Design Team of the Year and provides insights into the team’s work and the company’s products. The exhibition will be on display until 1 September 2024.
