Andreas Haug and Tom Schönherr

Statement of the jury

Awarding Andreas Haug and Tom Schönherr with the 2012 German Design Award – Personality, the jury honours the work of two of the foremost designers of our day. Thanks to their modest and sustainable methods, which are never subject to short-term trends, the founders and owners of Phoenix Design have long enjoyed the confidence of a legion of major companies such as Hansgrohe, Hewi, Hueppe, Kaldewei, Lamy, Loewe, Siteco and Viessmann.

After many years of working together for frogdesign, in 1987 Andreas Haug and Tom Schönherr teamed up to found design agency Phoenix Design in Stuttgart. Now with around 30 employees, Phoenix Design focuses on the areas of product design, interface design and surface design. The agency even has its own model workshop equipped with CNC-milling machines.

As well as working for international clients, Andreas Haug and Tom Schönherr feel a certain commitment to promoting the next generation of designers. Their internal design laboratory – the Phoenix Academy – is a free space, meeting point and experimental field, which awards grants to young designers enabling them to pursue their studies. This initiative was yet another reason why the jury chose to honour Andreas Haug and Tom Schönherr with the 2012 German Design Award.