USA – The Steelcase SILQ™ chair, a breakthrough in seating design, has won the Red Dot Award: Product Design 2019. The chair, created to respond intuitively to movement of the body, earned the award for its innovative material and outstanding design.

SILQ was created through an innovation in materials science. Through a patent-pending process, Steelcase designers and engineers created a new high-performance polymer material that emulates the qualities of carbon fiber. This material, combined with the arched silhouette of the design, allows SILQ to respond to natural movements of the human body without the mechanisms typically required in high-performance seating designed for the workplace. The result is a chair that behaves more like an organism than a machine – a new archetype in office seating.

“It’s an honor to be recognized by distinguished designers from around the world for our innovative design. The shape of SILQ, the materials it’s made of and how it performs are inseparable,” said James Ludwig, Steelcase vice president, global design and engineering. “We pushed the boundaries of materials science and the material became the mechanism. This is the pinnacle of what design and engineering can do together.”

The Red Dot Award: Product Design is one of the world’s largest design competitions. For over 60 years, an international jury comprised of experienced experts from different disciplines convenes to select the year’s best designs. Their assessment focuses on criteria such as the level of innovation, functionality, formal quality, longevity and ergonomics. In 2019, designers and manufacturers from 55 countries entered more than 5,500 products in the competition.