German Design Awards 2023: “Newcomer of the Year” and “Personality of the Year” announced. Accompanying exhibition and Design Talks at the Museum Angewandte Kunst, Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main, 3 February 2023
Paula Scher is Personality of the Year. Newcomer of the Year, product designer Tobias Trübenbacher, was also announced today at the award show for the German Design Award 2023. The Public Choice Award goes to the agency Kochstrasse for their “Creative Rebels NFT Collection”. An exhibition at Museum Angewandte Kunst, Frankfurt from 3 to 19 February 2023 will present the winners of the categories “Excellent Communications Design”, “Excellent Product Design” and “Excellent Architecture” as well as the Newcomer finalists, the “Personality of the Year” and “Public Choice” award.
Following a two-year break, the award show for the German Design Awards 2023 took place at the Forum Messe Frankfurt. The high-profile event attracted around 1600 international guests from the design scene, politics and business, who took advantage of the opportunity to exchange ideas and network. Highlights included the honouring of Paula Scher as Personality of the Year and the bestowing of the Public Choice Award on the Kochstrasse agency for their "Creative Rebels NFT Collection". The winner of the coveted Newcomer award was also announced: the 15,000 euro prize went to Tobias Trübenbacher. His four fellow competitors and finalists Katharina Düing, Paula Keilholz, Anna Koppmann and Tim Schütze were each awarded 2500 euros.
“German Design Award Newcomer”: Tobias Trübenbacher
In his work, Tobias Trübenbacher focuses on social design, sustainability, the development of new solutions for environmental problems and global challenges. His ultimate aim is to effect a transformation in production and consumer habits, thereby contributing to a better, more sustainable and liveable future. Tobias Trübenbacher was born in Traunstein in 1996. After finishing school, he studied industrial design at the University of Applied Sciences in Munich from 2015 onwards. In 2018, he transferred to Berlin University of the Arts, where he successfully completed his studies in 2021. While studying, he gained practical experience as an intern at Atelier Steffen Kehrle and also as Junior Designer at Studio Mark Braun. From August 2021 to July 2022, he worked as a designer at Konstantin Grcic Design. To enable him to design transformations on an even larger, allencompassing scale, Tobias Trübenbacher has been studying for a Masters in Architecture and Urban Studies at TU Munich since October 2022.
The German Design Council promotes talented, up-and-coming designers with its “Newcomer” award. Deutsche Telekom AG is again the sponsor for the prize money this year, worth a total of 25,000 euros.
Alongside the financial support offered by the award, having access to the German Design Council’s international network – which is unique globally – is a particularly relevant benefit. Tobias Trübenbacher and the four other finalists are now going to profit from it as they launch their careers.
“Personality of the Year”: Paula Scher
Paula Scher is one of the most renowned graphic designers in the world. Since 1991, she has been the first female partner of the New York office of the international design consultancy Pentagram, where she developed brand identities, signage, packaging and publications for a wide range of clients. With its fearless simplicity, her work makes unknown brands iconic and iconic brands epic. Her identity system for organisations such as the Public Theater, Museum of Modern Art, Shake Shack, Citibank, Microsoft, Tiffany & Co. and the High Line have become cornerstones of modern branding. Right from the beginning, Paula Scher questioned, broke and redefined existing design rules, setting new design benchmarks that are characterised by a fresh, distinctive aesthetic. She has been awarded many international prizes for her work. The jury of the German Design Awards 2023 honours Paula Scher for her life’s work with the special award “Personality of the Year”.
“Public Choice”: Creative Rebels NFT Collection
The public were given around two months to select their favourite out of all the winning projects. The product with the most votes won: the Public Choice Award 2023 goes to the charitable project “Creative Rebels NFT Collection”. With this project, the Kochstrasse brand agency aims to support people from crisis-ridden areas. For this purpose, young creatives were called on to mint 9595 NFTs (Non-Fungible Token). The basis for these is a multi-gender character that encompasses creativity, freedom, design and equality. Minting gives rise to a unique digital artwork that impresses with its creative variety of illustrations and also evidently touched the public emotionally.
Exhibition & Design Talks
The awardees’ projects will be presented at the exhibition at the Museum Angewandte Kunst from 3 to 19 February. With the prize-winning projects, the exhibition showcases a cross-section of current design trends from the fields of communication, product design and architecture. Opening hours can be found on the museum’s website.
Public Design Talks on relevant topics relating to the German Design Awards prizewinners and network of the German Design Council take place every Wednesday and Saturday for all those interested in design and architecture.
The German Design Council
The German Design Council has been operating since 1953 as one of the world’s leading centres of expertise in communication and knowledge transfer within design, branding and innovation. It is part of the worldwide design community and has always contributed to the establishment of global exchange and networking thanks to its international offering, promotion of new talent and memberships. With events, conventions, awards, jury meetings and expert committees, the Council connects its members and numerous other international design and branding experts, fosters discourse and provides important stimulation for the global economy. More than 350 businesses currently count among its members.