DMY International Design Festival 2013 – in retrospect.

Last Sunday, on June 9, 2013 at 6pm, the 11th edition of the DMY International Design Festival ended and thus the first Berlin Design Week also came to an end. For a whole week, the focus was on contemporary design attracting local and international visitors. Throughout the city, studios, workshops, galeries and bureaus opened their doors.

With the central exhibition, the DMY International Design Festival 2013 at the former Berlin Tempelhof Airport, design afficionados were rewarded with a big variety of design products and aspects. From furniture design to interior, product and communication design – more than 500 designers from more than 30 countries presented their work at the airport and berlinwide.

In the hangars of the airport, the 11th edition of the DMY festival featured, next to the central exhibition, the submissions for the Design Award of  the Federal Republic of Germany 2013, the DMY New Talents area and the exhibition within the exhibition: „Refugium – Berlin as a Design Principle“. The country focus Polen featured the biggest exhibition of Polish design in Germany to this day. More than 40 designers, design collectives and universities proved that our neighbouring country is on the way up and establishing a vital design culture.

For the fifth time, the international DMY jury consisting of the renowned design experts Prof. Axel Kufus (University of the Arts, Berlin), Daniel von Bernstorff (Stylepark.com), Prof. Czeslawa Frejlich (Arts Academy Krakow and editor-in-chief Designmagazin 2+3D) und Joerg Suermann (CEO DMY) awarded the DMY Awards. The winners 2013 are: Philipp Weber »Creation of a Strange Symphony« (New Talents Award), Jan Lutyk »Ribbon« (Exhibitors Award), the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam for the project »Metalscapes« (Education Award) and Amelie Hinrichsen, who was awarded the Special Jury Award.

Furthermore, the submissions for the Design Award of the Federal Republic of Germany were surveyed by the expert jury appointed by the Federal Ministry of Economy and Technology and the nominees were announced (http://www.bundesdesignpreis.de). The award ceremony for the Design Award of the Federal Republic of Germany is due to take place on Sep. 12, 2013 in Berlin.

The numerous workshops and open talks taking place during the DMY festival attracted a big audience. This also holds true for the second „Nightshift – Long Night of the Design Studios“ which was a crowd puller.

Jörg Suermann (CEO DMY Berlin): „We are very happy that through our uncountable international cooperations within the past ten years and the annual DMY International Design Festival in Berlin, we have managed to kick-start the first Berlin Design Week in 2013. Most people probably recognize that design influences our world and surroundings – to what extent and where this process begins and how the designer gets to the final product is something most of us are not aware of, unless we are given the opportunity to experience the designers and contemplate on their work close-up. It is indeed exhilarating and rewarding to ascertain that a growing number of people are interested in design and design processes. We look forward to the 12th edition of the DMY International Design Festival and the 2. Berlin Design Week which will take place next year from May 28 – June 1, 2014.“