In 2009 for the 10th year running, from the products sold and events staged in France during the year, the French Agence pour la Promotion de la Création Industrielle (APCI), with the support of Christian Estrosi French Minister for Industry and Employment, Fréderic Mitterand Minister of Culture and Valérie Pécresse Minister of Higher Education and Research, has selected those which best represent the importance and value of design and its advantages for the economic and cultural life of every consumer.
This year, this exclusive selection includes Novoceram, awarded the “Label de l’Observeur du Design” by the panel of judges chaired by Bernard Charlès, Director General of Dassault System for the “Métamorphose” Temporary Show and three of the collections presented during the event: Très Jouy, Origine and Chamade.
It was decided to enter Métamorphose for the originality and innovative concept of the event which involved setting up a spectacle in the rooms of the Hotel des Voyageurs at St Vallier. Between 8 and 13 June 2009, this old abandoned building underwent a genuine metamorphosis in which the spaces where Novoceram’s ecocompatible ceramics were displayed were brought temporarily back to life, an equilibrium between past and future before the building is completely demolished within the next few months.
This famous award goes to events with a particular emphasis on design staged during the year. The aim is to demonstrate that design can be a decisive element in product differentiation, while at the same time increasing the public’s awareness of their “right to design”, irrespective of economic, social and cultural position. The competition is open to all private or public companies, administrations and local communities, associations, designers, graphic designers, architects, landscape designers, town planners, etc.
The criteria adopted by the panel concentrate primarily on aspects such as innovation, improvement of user comfort, lower costs, satisfying the new requirements, accessibility to all, respect for the environment, the quality and originality of the product or event, the coherence of the company’s overall strategy, investment in a new sector and modernisation.
The award enabled Novoceram on one hand to appear in the Observeur du Design yearbook which dedicates a page to all products and events winning the award and on the other to display its products in the “Beautiful, Useful, Design” exhibition which was opened on 22 October with an evening event attended by Anne-Marie Boutin, President of the APCI and Cédric Ingrand, journalist with LCI, during which all the chosen initiatives and products were presented and the APCI “étoiles du design” were awarded to the best projects.
Considered one of the most important events on the international design scene, the display attracts more than 200,000 visitors to the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie in Paris where it will remain open to the public until 21 February 2010, before taking to the road to visit various countries throughout the world for an 18 month tour.
The list of chosen companies can be seen on this page.
