In 2016, we celebrated the 25th edition of the Henry van de Velde Awards. New and ambitious plans gave these Awards an even greater international allure and impact. New partners were being involved and were contributing to the project. Read below for further information about edition 2016.
The winners were celebrated on 19 January 2017 at the Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels. The award ceremony in the prestigious Henry Le Boeuf Hall, the exhibition at the BOZAR and the publication ensure that Henry van de Velde Awards have become an important platform for design in Flanders and for design in particular in its much wider sense.
Henry van de Velde Awards 2016. Photo by Michael De Lausnay
Special Design Awards
In 2016, the members of the jury were asked to choose winners who can serve as an inspiring role model both inside and outside the design sector for successful and future-oriented social, innovative and creative entrepreneurship for the Special Design Awards for Lifetime Achievement, Company and Young Talent. Certain designers and companies were brought to the fore, but the established names of Kristel Van Ael and Joannes Vandermeulen (partners at the Namahn office) (Lifetime Achievement Award), the company Rotor Deconstruction (Company Award) and young talent Pieter-Jan Pieters (Young Talent Award) rose clearly to the surface. Possibly because their names were not as well known by the wider public, or without a doubt by many in the design sector itself, yet they each had a unique approach that had been picked up and was valued far beyond our borders and which had a particularly inspiring effect.
Henry van de Velde Awards 2016. Photo by Michael De Lausnay
Henry van de Velde Awards 2016. Photo by Michael De Lausnay
Design Solution Awards
Design awards serve not only to put the spotlight on people and companies, they also and above all serve to detect and signal fundamental developments and shifts. With the new Design Solution Awards we are highlighting products and services that offer an innovative and future-oriented answer to economic or social /civil society questions. They can also serve as an inspiring example for other designers, companies, organisations, experts in the fields in question (and others) and the user. We came up with different categories or problems within which projects or services can be nominated.
For the 2016 edition, there were no fewer than 206 entries, from among which the same jury as for the 'Special Awards' finally nominated a total of 25 some even in different categories. These will from now on have the right to bear the Henry van de Velde Award logo. 1400 people attended the award ceremony on January 19th in BOZAR, Brussels. That same evening, a free exhibition was opened in BOZAR, running until 19 March 2017. 21.000 visitors saw the exhibition.
