It is bound to be an evening of stimulating discussions and interesting encounters when prominent personalities from the worlds of design, culture, politics and business come together for the awards ceremony of this year's Design Preis Schweiz.
On November 6th 2009, six creative teams and their projects were honored with a prestigious award.

The prize in the category "Market" is awarded for products and services that have been successfully introduced to the market within the last two years. This year it went to Paolo Fancelli and his team for the development of the multipurpose transporter "Aebi VT450". This functional yet comfortable vehicle was designed with the driver in mind: "I want my products to improve the quality of life for the people who use them", designer Paolo Fancelli says.

Products and services that are shortly to be introduced to the market and projects by young designers who have yet to make a name for themselves on the market are awarded in the prize category "Newcomer". Originally designed as a sales display for bags, the modular shelf system "V30 Freitag Skid" by young designer Colin Schaefli impressed the international jury with its simplicity.

In the field of textiles, the "Textile Design Award" has been split up to reward two independent projects.
In the category for innovative textile solutions, Martin Leuthold and his luxurious woven fabric named "Secret Garden" have enchanted the jury. Like a breath of nothing, this ultra-light weave is coated with a choice of aluminum, copper or bronze and printed on one side with a flowery design, which gives it an almost hypnotic look when moving.
The award for research and development in textiles went to Schoeller Technologies AG for their textile enhancement technology "coldblack: Sun Reflector - UV Protector". This revolutionary textile treatment technology protects against both heat and damaging ultraviolet rays. The jury sees a great potential in areas that include fashion, functional clothing and textiles for outdoors.

Young designer Thomas Schaad's project "Pacemaker" has been selected by the "Design Preis Schweiz" jury and granted with the "Rado Product Design Award". This award goes out to industrial products that are distinguished by an innovative approach to the materials or combination of materials, functionality or manufacturing technique. The "Pacemaker" is a portable, yet professionally designed DJ system no bigger than an MP3 player and can be used for mixing and playing music practically anywhere at anytime. It is a great example of an innovative blend of design, aesthetics as well as functionality.

One especially prestigious award at the Design Preis Schweiz is handed over to individual designers or design studios for their continuous services in the field of design: the "Merit". This year's winner is Albert Kriemler, a renowned fashion designer from St. Gallen whose label "Akris" is at the cutting edge of international fashion. More that just stylish, Albert Kriemler's work is also of outstanding quality. In the opinion of the jury, this made him the perfect ambassador "Swissness" in design.