The Mercedes-Benz Design Award will again present an up-and-coming designer with the opportunity of a lifetime – to design and bring to market a sustainability-minded creation, under the mentorship of industry experts.

For the past three years, Mercedes-Benz and Broadsheet have partnered to support and celebrate the best of Australian design with the Mercedes-Benz Design Award. In 2018, the award again provides a platform to nurture the next generation of local design talent. Last year’s edition of the award focused on improving the dining experience; finding ways to transform the way individuals share a meal with friends and family, indoors or out. Sydney designer Tom Fereday was selected from a highly competitive field as the winner for his elegant SIA chair: a slim, solid ash-timber and stainless-steel composition with an articulating backrest.

This year the award seeks to marry design excellence with the most urgent design issue of our time: sustainability. Mercedes-Benz is encouraging the creation of a sustainably-minded new product for the lounge space, to be manufactured and sold by Cult Design. The winner of the 2018 Mercedes-Benz Design Award will also receive an intensive mentorship program from a panel of judges who will help to bring the winning design to market. These include André Dutkowski, senior product manager at Mercedes-Benz Cars; Katya Wachtel, editorial director of Broadsheet; Tom Fereday, winner of the 2017 Mercedes-Benz Design Award; Adele Winteridge, founding director of Foolscap Studio; and Richard Munao, the owner of Cult Design who will also guide the winner’s blueprint through the manufacturing process to be championed in Cult’s stores. The winner will also have the opportunity to drive a Mercedes-Benz vehicle for an extended loan.

By providing a showcase for the highest standards of design, Dutkowski says the Mercedes-Benz Design Award is helping advance Australia’s culture of design. “We want to empower designers and give them a platform,” he says of the award’s mission. “I think we can help prepare Australian design talent for the global market.”

Entries are now open via the Mercedes-Benz Design Award website.

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