The new year has just begun and the international design scene has already come together. At the kick off event for the imm cologne, the A&W Designer of the Year and Iconic Awards, we met Michel Charlot, participant of last year’s Swiss Design Awards. He won the Best of Best prize (Iconic) in the category Furniture for his Roll-Up wastepaper bin, which is “an all-round successful product with a casual, informal design. Great execution of an impressively simple idea” as the jury says.

Charlot was called upon the stage a second time: he was honoured with the A&W Mentor Prize as up-and-coming designer, chosen by Jasper Morrison, A&W Designer of the Year 2016. Morrison says that Michel Charlot “is a sharp thinker with a highly original approach to design, you could almost call it a non-design approach, which is intersting and refreshing to see these days”.

Congratulations! We are looking forward to seeing more Swiss design in the fairs and festivals to come and are already excited to see the concentrated load at the Swiss Design Awards 2016 in Basel – so save the date for 14-19 June!