Its Coltlite CLST louvered natural ventilator was one of just 69 products out of a total of 6,300 entries from 59 countries to receive the highest accolade in the competition, the Red Dot: Best of the Best prize.
The Red-Dot Awards, which have been running since 1955, are an internationally recognised seal of product design quality and innovation. The Hampshire-based climate and smoke control company submitted the Coltlite to a rigorous testing and evaluation process in front of a 39-strong international judging panel drawn from a wide range of industries.
Only the best products in each category receive ‘Best of the Best’ prizes with other winners including Ferrari, Philips, Bulgari, Porsche and Sony.
“All of the designs have one thing in common: they represent the current status of product design and give insights into its future,” a judging panel statement said.
The Colt louvre competed with products from the worlds of furniture and household appliances to fashion and consumer electronics. All were subjected to rigorous evaluation criteria, which included innovation, functionality, formal quality, ergonomics and longevity.
Lifeline
Red Dot judge and innovation consultant Thomas Lockwood said companies were increasingly defining good design as a success factor in order to keep their businesses competitive in today’s tough markets. “Design and innovation are the lifeline of our businesses,” he stated.
His fellow judge Martin Darbyshire, founder of the tangerine consultancy, added that the best innovations now combine “high degrees of functionality with high aesthetic design quality”.
All of the Red Dot ‘laureates’ were celebrated at an award ceremony in the Aalto-Theatre opera house in Essen, Germany. Colt joined the other ‘Best of the Best’ winners to receive its trophy on stage in front of around 1,200 international guests.
“We are enormously proud to have secured such a prestigious international prize,” said Colt’s business development director, David Fitzpatrick. “Combining form with function has always been a driving force behind our product innovations and this proves that you do not need to abandon style in order to deliver a practical building services solution.”
The CLST louvred natural ventilator is the latest addition to the company’s popular Coltlite range. It is tested to EN 14351-1 and has a completely flat glazed appearance. The thermally broken louvre frames, which can open to 90 degrees, are only visible from the inside. This gives the ventilator an elegant external appearance, which makes it ideal for integration into a façade without compromising the appearance of the building.
As a Best of the Best winner, the Coltlite CLST will be displayed in the Red Dot Design Museum in Essen and will be featured in the Red Dot Design Yearbook and on the website: www.red-dot.de.