Celebrating more than a decade of Innovation by Design, the 2022 honorees include nearly 600 projects, products, and services from Nike, Verizon, Microsoft, and others.
Stuttgart, September 15, 2022 -- HygroShape by ICD and hylo tech was a finalist in Fast Company’s Innovation by Design Awards for 2022 in the home and materials category and a winner of the experimental category. The Innovationby Design Awards, which can be found in the October 2022 issue of Fast Company, honor the designers and businesses solving the most crucial problems of today andanticipating the pressing issues of tomorrow. The competition, now in its 11th year, features a range of blue-chip companies, emerging startups, and hungry young talents. It is one of themost sought-after design awards in the industry.
HygroShape is a first of its kind concept for truly self-shaping furniture. Using the natural, intrinsic properties of wood, furniture pieces are produced in physically programmed flatpack configurations, materially programmed to shape themselves when unpacked. This self-shaping emerges from the hygroscopic shrinkage that naturally occurs in wood materials. It happens effortlessly, in silence, without human interaction, tools, or assembly instructions, unfurling smoothly, as quickly as overnight.
The spin-off company hylo tech continues the exploration of this technology’s potential for a range of interior and structural applications.
“A common theme among this year’s Innovation by Design honorees, which range fromhealthcare interfaces to autonomous driving technology, is permanence,” said Brendan Vaughan, editor-in-chief of Fast Company. “The products that leaped out to our editors and judges went against our quick-fix consumer culture, while also manifesting a more inclusive vision of design.”
Winners, finalists, and honorable mentions are featured online and in the October issue of Fast Company magazine, on newsstands September 27, 2022.To see the complete list, go to https://www.fastcompany.com/innovation-by-design/list
About Fast Company
Fast Company is the only media brand fully dedicated to the vital intersection of business,innovation, and design, engaging the most influential leaders, companies, and thinkers on thefuture of business. Headquartered in New York City, Fast Company is published by Mansueto Ventures LLC, along with our sister publication Inc., and can be found online at www.fastcompany.com.