Oops Design Award
Oops Design Award is the first award focusing on the bad product design, it was initiated in 2009 by Latvian architect and designer Andrej Statskij and his partners – the journalist Magda Braun-Sommer and product design historian Adam Hoops. The selection and nomination of products from the fields of furniture design, lighting, household articles, home accessories, etc. are done by ODAF (Oops Design Award Foundation), which is a ip of anonymous fans and experts in product design. The voting runs in three categories on the website of the award and anyone can cast their vote for the ugliest, the silliest, and the most useless design of the year.
The idea is inspired by Andreij’s little daughter.They visited together I Salons in Milan and when he asked her whether she liked something, she replied “No, because the furniture here is ugly and silly.”
Admitting that much of those words were true, Statskij dwells on the matter; For the last 10 years profession with name “designer” become too popular and thousands chosen this profession to be in the fashion only. Some famous product designers became similar pop-stars, design magazines propagandize product design as part of pop / glamour -culture and, of course, therefore young designers think that product design is similar pop-culture, pop-art, pop-sculpture etc….But it is always mix of art, talent, professional skill, hard work and technologies.
That is the purpose of the Oops Design Award team – to draw the attention of the audience to good design through showing what it should have – stupid kitsch, pointless shocking elements and tasteless glamour. Therefore, they identified which characteristics make a product good. These are enduring, functional, well-made, accessible, affordable, socially beneficial, ergonomic, and emotionally resonant. After the first prizes are given the creators of Oops Design Award hope that the ugly, silly and useless product design will dwindle.
