mmcité won the RED DOT AWARD for the elegant upcycling of the Pixel seating system

The studio mmcité1 proudly boasts another significant award, namely the prestigious Red Dot Award for design 2019. An international panel composed of the most prominent experts from around the world recognized the unconventional seating system Pixel, which utilizes leftover materials. The design of the awarded product comes from David Karásek, the chief designer of mmcité1, and the duo Herrmann & Coufal.

The studio mmcité1, which has been engaged for almost twenty-five years in designing and manufacturing urban furniture elements, has once again demonstrated its sense of innovation and that environmentally sustainable manufacturing is not foreign to it. They have relied on upcycling, which involves the ability to utilize materials that would otherwise become waste, creating an outdoor seating system that impresses with its variability and fresh style. The most significant global design award, the Red Dot Award 2019, did not take long to arrive. The award, known as the red dot, is annually granted by the Design Center of North Rhine-Westphalia for the best design achievements in product design, and it is only awarded to one percent of the submitted products.

"Thinking about the best use of materials is natural for us, starting right from the design phase. Not wasting materials is also the most ecological approach. But how do you utilize something that, according to conventional standards, seems unusable? That was the real challenge. We wanted to design a product that is aesthetically unique, brings something truly new to public spaces, and utilizes wood that would otherwise end up in the stove. Moreover, we found a way to anchor small wooden slats to the frame in a unique way, which we patented," explains David Karásek from mmcité1.

Pixel is unique not only for its concept but also for the options it offers. At its core is a simple square module supported by a single central leg, from which almost any seating shape can be created in conjunction with other modules. The seat is made of wooden slats that can be oriented in various directions, forming the basis of a playful interaction that arises during the creation of final assemblies. The system also includes not only backrests that can be placed anywhere on the seating area but also small cylindrical flower pots integrated into the same rectangular grid as the seats themselves. The name Pixel was not chosen randomly; it truly allows for the creation of pixelated shapes, but not on paper, rather in real public spaces. Moreover, they provide comfortable seating.

Pixel was first introduced to the Czech public during the Landscape Prague festival, where David Karásek, Herrmann & Coufal, and Viktor Šašinka demonstrated the product's variability within an experimental installation in the park on Prague's Vítkov Hill. The assembly, which utilizes the motif of a flag, refers to the one-hundredth anniversary of the Czechoslovak Republic. Visitors can still try out the benches today, as the installation in the park remains due to requests from the citizens of Prague 3.

However, the Red Dot Award 2019 is not the only accolade Pixel has received. Designers David Karásek and the duo Herrmann & Coufal advanced to the finals of the Czech Grand Design 2018 in the Designer of the Year category with this product, where they finished second. The product also received the EDIDA 2019 award in the Outdoor category, which is announced annually by Elle Decoration magazine.