HeartFelt®, Hunter Douglas’ new felt ceiling system, has won the highest distinction in the category Product Design of the Red Dot Award. From among thousands of submissions from all over the world, the jury awarded the prize to HeartFelt®, because of its ‘exceptional and innovative’ design, the jury’s report stated. The organisation added that with HeartFelt® Hunter Douglas has made ‘one of the best products of 2017’.
HeartFelt® is a new modular linear felt ceiling system with unique design and sustainability qualities. HeartFelt® is made with Cradle to Cradle-certified felt, a natural and soft material with a warm appearance and excellent acoustic properties. Hunter Douglas is the first manufacturer in the world to market a modular and linear felt ceiling system.
Worldwide visibility
Commenting on the Red Dot: Product Design 2017 award, Professor Dr. Peter Zec, founder and CEO of the Red Dot Award, said, ‘Only visionary designers know how to create harmony between design, functionality, temptation and responsibility. Our award ensures that these designs are ‘found’ and then makes them visible to the whole world.’
Growing popularity of felt
HeartFelt® is Hunter Douglas’ answer to the growing popularity of felt among designers. More and more designers are using felt for upholstery and wall decoration, but also as a basic material for (interior) decoration and functional objects, such as lamps, clocks and brief cases. In architecture, this natural material was already in vogue, says Bjarne Hammer of Denmark’s renowned architectural agency Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects. ‘Felt is fantastic to work with if you’re an architect. It is a material that stirs emotions; it is warm to the touch and has an amazingly natural look and feel.’ Hammer was involved in the development of HeartFelt® right from the start. In addition to its aesthetic qualities, felt has excellent functional qualities for (interior) architecture, such as light reflection and sound absorption.
Cradle to Cradle Certified
Also, the felt used for HeartFelt® is Cradle to Cradle-certified, making it the kind of sustainable solution many architects are currently looking for. The modular system of felt panels (available in five shades of grey) offers designers many design possibilities; they can play around almost endlessly with panel size, joint width, mounting height and colour.
Prestigious prize
The Red Dot Award is a prestigious design award with a history that goes back more than sixty years. Every year the organization receives thousands of submissions from all over the world. This year, the Red Dot Award attracted more than 5,500 submissions from 54 countries. A jury of about 40 independent designers, design professors and journalists evaluated every product, nominating those with a ‘groundbreaking’ design as winners of the Red Dot award: Product Design 2017.
