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Afdeling Buitengewone Zaken

Flying Cars To Smoking Dresses: Vote For Your Favorite Project To Win The Rotterdam Design Prize

We get to know the nominees.

Afdeling Buitengewone Zaken for Hidden Design

Considered the most prestigious design award in the Netherlands, the Rotterdam Design Prize was established in 1993 by the Rotterdam City Council "to stimulate public debate about design in the Netherlands, and to focus attention on the social aspects of Dutch design." Occurring once every two years, thenominations are awarded to unique projects, products, and research at the cutting edge of developmental design.

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In a unique twist, creators cannot self-submit. Rather: five scouts actively working in the design field must nominate who they feel is most worthy of the 15,000 Euro prize (and adulation of course).

Each of these scouts are encouraged to put up three projects for consideration, backed by a persuasive thesis-style argument in favor. Through this approach the Rotterdam Design Prize hopes to highlight not just the many developments in the design world, but also concepts in the field with significant social influence. While voting began in November, the final award will be announced January 31st.

Since there's still time to cast your e-ballot, we broke down some of our favorite projects below to help make your decision a little easier:

Lernert & Sander, Handmade and Everything 

Engelberts Lernert and Sander Plug are two designers based in Amsterdam that create conceptual films and installations inflected with equal parts humor and artistic skill. Collecting nearly 1400 samples from (almost) every fragrance launched in 2012, the duo created a new scent simply titled "Everything". This medley of perfumes comes packaged in a hand-blown bottle, and is meant to act as a statement on mass, supply, and reuse. In addition to the final product, the duo also released a corresponding film that shows how Everything went from an idea to an actual product.

Lernert and Sander

Anouk Wipprecht, Interactive Couture Building a reputation in the design community for her 21st century use of technology in fashion, Wipprecht's 3D printed Smoke Dress reacts to its surroundings: once a person comes too close the dress starts to "smoke", adding an extra layer of visual camouflage for the wearer. Meant to be reminiscent of the body's "natural reflex to cover" when experiencing shame and nudity, the project, created in collaboration with Italian architect Niccolo Casas, is meant to cause the viewer wonder: What if my dress could reflect, support, or even correct my behavior?

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Anouk Wipprecht

Massoud Hassani, Mine Kafon

Afghani born and raised, Hassani based Mine Kafon (a wind-propelled ball resembling a tumbleweed that can destroy up to three or four land mines per outing), on a beloved toy from his childhood. Meant to replace a human's role in this dangerous but necessary activity, Hassini's proposal hopes to turn the design and attention from this prize into a push to help make this concept a reality.

Massoud Hassani

Marga Weimans for Body Archive

Fascinating and beautiful, Weimans' Body Archive is a capsule fashion collection made up of inventive outfits with graphic prints and designs based on Weimans’ own DNA. Converting her genetic code into pixels, Weimens then translates them into fabric patterns. Utilizing a tablet or iPhone with a special app, viewers can then "read" information transmitted from the garments, essentially letting the audience play amateur geneticist.

Marga Weimans

Game Oven for Fingle

Game Oven is a unique interactive program created for the iPad in which two players place and move fingers on the screen in increas­ingly complicated arrangements. Meant to provoke awkward, funny, and occasionally flirtatious situations, Game Oven is meant to be more of a social experiment in human contact than a competitive activity. To see what we mean, you can watch the video (in Dutch) here. Fingle

Pal-V Europe NV and Spark Design & Innovation for PAL-V

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Developed by Spark and PAL-V, this "unique Personal Air and Land Vehicle (PAL-V)" introduces a new transportation concept by combining a road vehicle with a gyrocopter. Making your transformer dreams a reality, drivers can then decide on a whim whether to travel by air or land.

Pal-V 
Sparke Design

Other projects up for the award include an ethically made smartphone (Fairfone), an app to help with mental illness (temstem), Dan Roosegaarde's Crystals, and more.

Don't forget to cast your vote!

An exhibition tied to the Rotterdam Design Prize 2013 runs until 9 February 2014 in Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen