There's a giant cauldron, a wooden chair, a library and a video game in the mix: it's time for the Designs of the Year awards, and you know it's nearly Spring when this particular circus comes to town. Showcasing the best designs of 2012 in every category from architecture to fashion, graphics to product and often dubbed 'the Oscars of the design world', the Design Museum's DOTY exhibition opens today. And it's a formidable bunch.
Last year, I was privileged enough to sit on the jury for the awards, alongside Evgeny Lebedev, Hella Jongerius and Sir George Iacobescu CBE. So I can say, first hand, that the important thing here is not who wins, but the whole picture of what's in the show. As the museum's director Deyan Sudjic says, 'Designs of the Year offers a unique chance for visitors to see where the world of design is going, all in one room.'
Finding a single winner might have its uses, but that's not really the point. This is a comprehensive cross section of the world's best designs in a given timeframe. It gives a snapshot of what is going on across the globe. And for the visitor it is mind-blowing how much fantastic innovation there is at a time when most industries are reporting doom and gloom at every opportunity.
There are certain trends evident, too. For example open-source design - do-it-yourself designing and making - is a strong theme this year. 'One of the most significant advances in the last 12 months or so has been the transition of 3D printing technology from R&D labs to the home,' explains curator Pete Collard. 'With the arrival of Makerbot's Replicator 2, it's now possible for people to manufacture their own designs, bypassing the traditional chain of mass-manufacturer to shop to consumer. One of the other designs, a mobility apparatus, coined "Magic Arms", being piloted at a children's hospital in Delaware, demonstrates the benefits of this bespoke, small-scale style of manufacture.'
This year's jury - which includes Griff Rhys Jones, Amanda Levete and Nicolas Roope among others - will be asked to judge Thomas Heatherwick's Olympic Cauldron against a wheelchair that folds flat (by Vitamins Design). Random International's Rain Room sits alongside the design for the gov.uk website and a lightshade made from a constantly growing and bursting bubble (Surface Tension lamp by Front). They're all completely different. They are all completely amazing. The jury has an impossible mission.
But they do have the luxury of spending hours reviewing and dissecting these fantastic nominations one by one. This year's showcase - displayed in an exhibition designed by Faudet-Harrison, featuring suitably optimistic yellow walls and carefully considered vistas allowing the nominees to be admired up close and from afar - includes projects that are jaw droppingly beautiful, such as Lacaton and Vassal's Tour Bois-le-Prêtre in Paris' notorious banlieues; alongside far reaching fashion initiatives such as Yayoi Kusama's collection for Louis Vuitton. Then there are projects that are far from pretty, but have social implications, such as Australia's new cigarette packaging, designed to discourage smokers, and the saviour of many a household: the non-stick ketchup bottle.
I would encourage everyone who visits to play the part of juror - not to choose between the objects, but in the attempt fully absorb the brilliance of what is on show: the importance and impact that design has on us all. In a recent report from The Future Laboratory, in which it polled which professions people felt would be most likely to save the world, scientists were rated top, with politicians, poets and philosophers also all doing their bit. Designers were nowhere to be seen. I was shocked, but then I am biased. It would be interesting to retake this poll on visitors leaving the Design Museum's latest show: it would surely provide a very different picture.
The winners will be announced in April.
Product nominee: Olympic Cauldron, by Heatherwick Studio
Product nominee: Tekio, by Anthony Dickens
Product nominee: Faceture Vases, by Phil Cuttance.
Product nominee: Surface Tension Lamp, by Front
Product nominee: 'Beolit 12' , by Cecilie Manz, for Bang & Olufsen
Product nominee: Replicator 2 , by MakerBot
Product nominee: 'W127' lamp, by Dirk Winkel for Wästberg
Product nominee: E- Source, by Hal Watts
Product nominee: Plug Lamp, by Form Us With Love
Product nominee: Switch Collection, by Inga Sempe, for Legrand
Product nominee: Colalife , by Simon Berry
Product nominee: Liquiglide Ketchup Bottle , by Dave Smith/Varanasi Research Group MIT
Product nominee: Oigen Kitchenware , by Jasper Morrison/Japan Creative.
Product nominee: Frederic Malle Travel Sprays , by Pierre Hardy
Product nominee: 'Child Vision Glasses' , by The Centre for Vision in the Developing World and Goodwin Hartshorn
Product nominee: Little Printer , by Berg
Product nominee: 3D printed exoskeleton 'Magic Arms' , by Nemours and Alfred I. DuPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Delaware.
Product nominee: Papa Foxtrot Toys , by PostlerFerguson
Product nominee: Kiosk 2.0, by Unfold Studio.
Product nominee: Colour Porcelain , by Scholten & Baijings, for 1616 Arita Japan
Architecture nominee: Kukje Art Centre, Seoul , by SO - IL.
Architecture nominee: Superkilen, Nørrebro, Denmark , by Big, Topetek1 and Superflex.
Architecture nominee: Metropolitan Arts Centre, Belfast , by Hackett Hall McKnight.
Architecture nominee: La Tour Bois-Le-Prêtre, Paris , by Druot, Lacaton and Vassal
Architecture nominee: MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art), Cleveland, USA, by Farshid Moussavi Architecture
Architecture nominee: The Shard, London, UK, by Renzo Piano
Architecture nominee: A Room For London, Southbank Centre, UK, by David Kohn Architects in collaboration with Fiona Banner.
Architecture nominee: Astley Castle, Warwickshire, UK, by Witherford Watson Mann
Architecture nominee: Museum of Innocence, Istanbul , by Orhan Pamuk with Ihsan Bilgin, Cem Yucel and Gregor Sunder Plassmann
Architecture nominee: Four Freedoms Park, New York, USA , by Louis Kahn.
Architecture nominee: Book Mountain, Spijkenisse, Holland, by MVRDV.
Architecture nominee: Thalia Theatre, Lisbon, by Gonçalo Byrne Arquitectos & Barbas Lopes Arquitectos
Architecture nominee: Home For All, Venice 2012 Architecture Biennale, by Akihisa Hirata, Sou Fujimoto, Kumiko, Naoya Hatakeyama, Inui and Toyo Ito.
Architecture nominee: Ikea Disobedients, performed at MoMA PS1, New York , by Andrés Jaque Arquitectos. Courtesy of MoMA The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Architecture nominee: Galaxy Soho, Bejing , by Zaha Hadid.
Furniture nominee: A-Collection, by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec for Hay.
Furniture nominee: 100 Chairs, by Marni.
Furniture nominee: Gravity Stool , by Jolan Van Der Wiel.
Furniture nominee: Liquid Glacial Table, by Zaha Hadid.
Furniture nominee: Re-Imagined Chairs, by Nina Tolstrup and Jack Mama at Studio Mama
Furniture nominee: Medici Chair , by Konstantin Grcic, for Mattiazzi
Furniture nominee: Corniches, by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, for Vitra
Furniture nominee: Tié Paper Chair , by Pinwu
Furniture nominee: Well Proven Chair, by James Shaw and Marjan van Aubel
Furniture nominee: The Sea Chair , by Studio Swine and Kieren Jones
Furniture nominee: Engineering Temporality, by Studio Markunpoika
Furniture nominee: Engineering Temporality, by Studio Markunpoika
Furniture nominee: Future Primitives , by Muller Van Severen.
Digital nominee: Rain Room, The, Barbican Art Gallery, by Random International
Digital nominee: City Tracking Pt 2, by Stamen
Digital nominee: Candles In The Wind , by Moritz Waldemeyer, for Ingo Maurer. © Ingo Maurer GmbH.
Digital nominee: Wind Map , by Martin Wattenberg and Fernanda Bertini Viegas
Digital nominee: Superstitious Fund Project , by Shing Tat Chung.
Digital nominee: Gov.UK Website , by Government Digital Service
Digital nominee: English Hedgerow Plate , by Jason Jameson, James Hall and Rhys Griffin of Unanico Group, with Andrew Tanner Design and Royal Winton
Digital nominee: Free Universal Construction Kit , by Free Art and Technology Lab and Sy-Lab
Digital nominee: Light Field Camera , by Lytro
Digital nominee: Chirp , by Patrick Bergel
Digital nominee: Raspberry Pi Computer , by Raspberry Pi Foundation
Digital nominee: 'Zombies, Run!' app, by Six to Start and Naomi Alderman
Fashion nominee: Louis Vuitton collection, by Yayoi Kusama.
Fashion nominee: Prada S/S 2012 womenswear collection, by Miuccia Prada
Fashion nominee: Proenza Schouler A/W 2012 womenswear collection, by Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough.
Fashion nominee: Giles Deacon A/W12 womenswear collection, by Giles Deacon
Fashion nominee: 'Anna Karenina' costumes, by Jacqueline Durran
Fashion nominee: 'I Want Muscle' , by Elisha Smith-Leverock
Fashion nominee: 'Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel', by Lisa Immordino
Transport nominee: Air Access Seat, by Priestmangoode.
Transport nominee: i3 Concept Car , by BMW
Transport nominee: Donky Bicycle, by Ben Wilson.
Transport nominee: Exhibition Road , by Dixon Jones and The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. © Miller Hare
Transport nominee: Exhibition Road , by Dixon Jones and The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.
Transport nominee: Touch & Travel, by DB Mobility Logistics AG
Transport nominee: Morph Folding Wheel , by Vitamins, for Maddak Inc
Transport nominee: Mando Footloose Chainless Bicycle, by Mark Sanders
Transport nominee: N-ONE , by Honda
Graphics nominee: Ralph Ellison Collection, by Cardon Webb
Graphics nominee: Austria Solar Annual Report , by Serviceplan
Graphics nominee: 'Dekho: Conversations on Design in India, by CoDesign
Graphics nominee: Australian Cigarette Packaging , commissioned by Australian Government Department, for Health and Ageing
Graphics nominee: Zumtobel Annual Report , by Brighten the Corners and Anish Kapoor
Graphics nominee: Made in Los Angeles: Work by Colby Poster Printing Co, by Anthony Burrill.
Graphics nominee: 'Kapow!', written by Adam Thirlwell and designed by Studio Frith
Graphics nominee: 'Bauhaus: Art As Life Exhibition', Barbican Art Gallery, by A Practice For Everyday Life
Graphics nominee: The Gentlewoman #6, by Veronica Ditting & Jop van Bennekom
Graphics nominee: Occupied Times Of London , by Tzortzis Rallis and Lazaros Kakoulidis
Graphics nominee: Strelka Institute identity, by OK-RM
Graphics nominee: Organic , by Kapitza
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