The World Design Medal is awarded to Dieter Rams
“Few designers have left a mark as indelible as Dieter Rams”
Words: Vitsœ
Photography: Vitsœ
Earlier this month the brutalist Barbican Centre in London was the venue for the 2025 World Design Congress and WDO (World Design Organisation) General Assembly. Hosted by the Design Council, the three-day event gathered an international design community to explore the theme of ‘Design for Planet’ – how design can accelerate action on the climate and nature crisis.
But as we at Vitsœ are constantly saying; our planet will be fine, it is those living on it that will not, and we must all consider how we can continue to live on a planet with finite resources if we simply throw everything away.
It is just shy of 50 years ago (in 1976) that Dieter Rams delivered a frank and prescient speech in New York, entitled ‘Design by Vitsœ’. In it, he asserted his commitment to responsible design and drew attention to an “increasing and irreversible shortage of natural resources”. Believing that good design can only come from an understanding of people, Rams asked designers – indeed, everyone – to take more responsibility for the state of the world around them.
He stated: “I imagine our current situation will cause future generations to shudder at the thoughtlessness in the way in which we today fill our homes, our cities and our landscape with a chaos of assorted junk.”
At this year’s congress, the WDO presented Rams with the World Design Medal. Established in 2017, the medal recognises exceptional individuals who have significantly advanced the field of industrial design and have contributed to creating a positive impact on our world. Selected through a public process, it is only the third time the medal has been awarded, with Rams joining German industrial designer Hartmut Esslinger and the American industrial designer Dr. Patricia Moore as a recipient.
Rams, now aged 93, did not personally attend the presentation, but upon receipt of the accolade he responded with the following words:
“I would like to thank you for this honour, which is rarely awarded and which I am thrilled to receive. Awards of this kind also recognise an attitude rather than just an individual. I am not a so-called ‘star designer’ and I never wanted to be. I also think the term is completely incorrect.
I would therefore like to accept this award also on behalf of all those who have worked with me and who have engaged in furthering a more liveable environment.
Design is a process, and industrial design involves teamwork with many contributors. I have been fortunate to have had contact with so many outstanding people—at Braun and Vitsœ, but also at many conferences and meetings, in many wonderful and inspiring conversations. Not least at many events organised by ICSID, the predecessor of the WDO worldwide. The ICSID conference in Kyoto in 1973 opened my eyes to a historical Japanese product aesthetic that remains close to my heart.
I have always greatly appreciated an international approach. It is only through such international, unrestricted dialogue and cooperation that we will be able to shape our world sensibly in the future. We all possess different qualities in our different cultures, and these need to be brought together in a meaningful synergy. Any form of nationalism has always seemed strange and false to me. We can only become ‘great’ together!
Designers need to take a critical and constructive approach. Are designers who are critical then kill-joys? Yes, when it comes to thoughtless over consumption, nonsensical design and a disregard for our natural environment. But no, in terms of a joyful seriousness. I emphasise both aspects here – a joyful seriousness.”
WDO president, Thomas Garvey, stated, “Few designers have left a mark as indelible as Dieter Rams,” he added “his unwavering commitment to design integrity has not only shaped the objects around us but also the very values of our profession. As this year’s World Design Medal laureate, WDO is honoured to recognise his enduring legacy – one that continues to challenge, inspire and elevate designers worldwide.”
Both Rams and Vitsœ sincerely hope that the international design community will understand that the shortage of the earth’s natural resources should compel a change of individual and societal attitudes. As Rams stated, nearly 50 years ago, “The times of thoughtless design, which can only flourish in times of thoughtless production for thoughtless consumption, are over. We cannot afford any more thoughtlessness.”
