Jury announces strong selection of nominations for 2019 DAME Design Award

The Jury of the globally recognised DAME Design Award 2019 competition is pleased to announce that 59 products from a total field of 118 entries spanning 27 countries have been nominated to enter the final rounds of judgement. Each nominated product will be available to view within the special DAME Design Award exhibition at METSTRADE in RAI Amsterdam and the winners will be selected from this shortlist.

Strong themes were obvious throughout the entry field, including increased use of environmentally friendly materials and greater adaption of technology to improve accessibility to boating. A Jury of nine leading experts in their field, under supervision of non-voting secretary Kim Hollamby, were challenged to think very carefully not only about the merits of each entry but also the rapidly changing world in which they will be used. The final selection of nominations represents a wide ranging field of products, from new materials and items of personal boating equipment, to complex electronics and large items of machinery. It sets the scene for an incredibly exciting and hard to predict announcement of winners at the METSTRADE 2019 Breakfast Briefing in RAI Amsterdam on 19 November, the opening day of this globally significant meeting of the world’s marine trade at Amsterdam.

The influence of design in the world around us

Birgit Schnaase, the DAME Jury chair, has 24 years of experience as an engineer and interior designer working on notable yacht, aircraft and house interior design projects. She says: “The Jury discussed at our nomination meeting just how influential design is in the world around us. It is critical that marine companies focus on design, in all of its aspects, to ensure that consumer expectations are met when they go boating. We also need smart design to address important issues like production efficiency, environmental impact improvement and greater integration. The DAME Awards has long recognised this and its role in identifying stand-out examples of good practice has never been more valuable.

“The mix of entries we examined this year demonstrates that many marine companies are paying really close attention to form and function, with solutions that will improve the experiences of those getting afloat. I look forward to revealing the Category Winners and overall DAME Award winner on 19 November.”

METSTRADE 2019

During METSTRADE 2019 the nominated and winning products will be on display in the I-nnovationLAB, within a special DAME 2019 presentation. The Category Winners and overall winner will present their products on the I-nnovationLAB Stage, located in hall 6. The DAME winners will be announced during the Breakfast Briefing in RAI Amsterdam on the opening day of METSTRADE 2019, taking place 19-21 November in the RAI Amsterdam Convention Centre.

Click here to see the 2019 DAME Nominees »

Image: DAME Jury 2019, from left to right: Andre Hoek, Ben Ellison, Patrick Hemp, Kim Hollamby, Olivier Racoupeau, Dave Marsh, Davide Cipriani, Elaine Bunting and Birgit Schnaase.

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About the DAME Design Award

The DAME Design Award celebrates everything that is important about marine equipment design, from aesthetics to functionality, integration to packaging and price efficiency to lifecycle management. It offers opportunities for all METSTRADE Show exhibitors from around the world to submit their latest products and have them judged by experts spanning all areas of design. Because of this wider focus, the DAME encourages the whole marine industry to continuously improve its design efforts, to the last detail. Entrants are not just judged against their global peers but the DAME Jury recognises improvements from year-to-year within individual companies too.
The DAME Design Award, now in its 29th edition, continues to perform a vital function within the marine industry in stimulating design progression across all disciplines and product types. Great end-to-end design is vital to improve manufacturing efficiency and product reliability. It plays a developing role in environmental responsibility. It also recognises that the marine industry must match the high customer expectations set by products in other sectors like automotive and consumer electronics.

DAME Jury 2019

This year’s DAME Jury is made up of eight leading industry experts:

• Birgit Schnaase, chair of the DAME Jury, interior designer and engineer, owner of Schnaase Interior Design, Germany
• Elaine Bunting, group editor marine at TI Media and editor of Yachting World, UK
• Davide Cipriani, boat and industrial designer, president of yacht design at Centrostiledesign, Italy
• Ben Ellison, freelance marine technical journalist, Panbo marine electronics hub, USA
• Patrick Hemp, technical manager and trained designer, ICOMIA, South Africa
• Andre Hoek, naval architect and yacht designer, founder of Hoek Design, The Netherlands
• David Marsh, independent technical marine journalist and naval architect, UK
• Olivier Racoupeau, naval architect and boat designer, owner of Berret- Racoupeau Yachts, France

The DAME Jury is supported by a non-voting secretary – Kim Hollamby of Hollamby Partnership, UK