Annette Douglas wins Red Dot “Best of the Best” Award

Only those participants who are able to prevail in the eyes of the top-class jury are awarded the red dot quality. The 30 international experts examined, tested and evaluated each individual product of altogether 4,515 entries – live as always and on-site. They applied different criteria such as the level of innovation, functionality, self-explanatory quality and environmental compatibility.

Products from 19 different categories had to be assessed in the evaluation process lasting several days – from small objects such as paper clips or hearing aids to furniture, cars and building projects. Beside the “red dot “quality seal for outstanding product design, the jury awards the “honourable mention”, distinguishing remarkable detail solutions. In addition, highest quality is honoured with the special award “red dot: best of the best”. This year, only 1.37 per cent of all entries received this prize.

One of the winners is Annette Douglas. Her special ability lies in her twin competence. As a designer she can draw upon her sensitivity to the subtleties of colour, shape and materials. Her technical expertise and understanding ensure that her ideas and designs actually work in practice. She founded her company Annette Douglas Textiles AG in 2011.

Douglas has won the award for a sound absorbing, translucent curtain. The product named Acoustics was developed together with researchers at Empa Dübendorf and St. Gallen and with the weaving mill Weisbrod Zürrer in a CTI project. Despite their light weight, the translucent curtains have a sound absorption coefficient between αw 0.5 und 0.6. In combination with other materials they make an effective contribution to good room acoustics. Because the new curtains are translucent and its design in a very high quality, they can be used in a variety of places such as open plan offices, restaurants, hotel lobbies, seminar rooms and even multi-purpose auditoriums.