BLICKFANG stands for excellent, independent design – and this is exactly what the prestigious design award honors this year.
The award is directed at outstanding designers and creative minds who impress with innovative concepts and unique aesthetics. The design prize is once again one of the highlights of BLICKFANG this year and will be awarded in three categories for the first time: In addition to the established Furniture & Lighting and Fashion categories, the Accessories category will now also be honored.
An independent jury of experts decides on the winners in all categories, placing particular importance on design quality, creative concept, craftsmanship and compelling presentation. The design award not only highlights excellent design, but also sets an example for the importance of sustainable and innovative design.
The award is made possible by the support of the D.E.S.I.G.N. Foundation, which is committed to promoting outstanding design achievements. With this award, BLICKFANG remains true to its mission of empowering designers and making the best ideas accessible to a large audience.
The jury of BLICKFANG Hamburg 2025
Katharina Schwarze I Senior Editor AD Germany
Katharina Schwarze is a graduate industrial designer and design journalist with a special sense of design, craftsmanship and communication. After studying at the renowned Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design in Halle (Saale), she founded the furniture design label StudioMok together with Maja Hafner, with whom she developed innovative design concepts and furniture.
After several years as a designer, she increasingly shifted her focus to editorial and curatorial activities in the design and architecture context. She worked as Creative Content & Sales Manager for the BLICKFANG Designshop, was Contributing Editor for magazines such as Architonic, ArchDaily, 1st Living and The Design Pot, and wrote numerous articles on topics such as interior design, architecture, furniture and traditional crafts. Since 2022, she has been Senior Editor at AD, responsible for kitchen and bathroom topics and writes for both print and digital on her specialist areas of furniture design, crafts, interiors and architecture.
1. What defines good design for you?
At first glance, the product should trigger an emotional reaction – be it through a particular shape, color or material. However, this does not necessarily mean that it has to be particularly eye-catching. Even quiet products that have found the perfect proportions, for example, can trigger such a reaction – the assessment of this is of course highly subjective. Secondly, the product should feel good and work flawlessly, without that it is not possible. And last (but definitely not least!) the materials and production must be right. In other words, the product should be made under fair conditions, from a material or materials that are ecologically sustainable.
2. Which design piece has impressed you recently and why?
The tablewear collection by Natalia Criado. I discovered it last year at the Salone in Alcova, but I can’t get enough of it. The objects combine codes from her home country of Colombia with Italian craftsmanship, they are playful and pragmatic at the same time. I find it particularly charming that she lends artistic character and sophistication to supposedly banal everyday objects such as knives, forks and spoons.
3. Where do you see furniture design heading in the future?
I recently asked Antonio Citterio the same question in an interview, and I found his answer convincing: the furniture industry is (unfortunately) becoming more and more like the fashion industry. Furniture collections are created at a rapid pace, information and trends spread quickly. Which is why the brand and the brand experience that comes with the pieces is more important than ever. With collections that are becoming almost visually replaceable, trust in the label is key.
4. BLICKFANG is important because…
… it gives young design labels the opportunity to receive direct customer feedback. Which products catch the interest of visitors and which products sell? There is hardly any more valuable information for designers.
5. What good advice would you give young designers today?
Fail Fast. If you feel a creative urge, get to work as quickly as possible. And then keep exchanging ideas, making adjustments and developing further. The perfect product is not created at the first attempt, your own design signature only develops through experience. And then there’s the topic of AI. You shouldn’t approach it with too much fear, but rather use the opportunities it opens up for your own design process. .
Stefanie Bärwald I journalist, Home editor at SCHÖNER WOHNEN
Stefanie Bärwald studied dance, theater and communication sciences in Frankfurt am Main, Munich and Stockholm. As an assistant director, she was particularly fascinated by the sets – from dramatically falling stage curtains to the right lighting mood. After her traineeship and permanent positions as a home editor in Munich, she turned her back on the Isar and moved to the Elbe to work first for LIVING AT HOME and since 2017 for SCHÖNER WOHNEN.
Her favorite topics and area of expertise? Home “software”, in other words home textiles of all kinds and everything to do with beds and bedrooms. She is also enthusiastic about styling, before-and-after reports, children’s room furnishings and, above all, discovering young labels and the very latest home and design trends.
1. What defines good design for you?
Good design has a certain not-yet-seen/surprise effect for me. It is unique, has excellent craftsmanship and feels good. It’s the details that count. But everyday objects also have to impress me with their functionality. And good design is also about longevity.
2. Which design piece has impressed you recently and why?
I’m currently sifting through all the new products arriving from the Milan furniture fair. I wasn’t able to go to the fair myself because a torn cruciate ligament left me out of action for a while – the design of crutches definitely has room for improvement. On the other hand, I am always very enthusiastic about sustainable textile design, for example from the Danish fabric company Kvadrat, the Spanish carpet label Nanimarquina or the Hamburg label M2Rugs. And small, portable lamps are my absolute design favorites: essential for everyday life and a good mood at home.
3. Where do you see furniture design heading in the future?
For both furniture/product and fashion design, there is no way around sustainability. Resource-sparing production and innovative or recyclable materials are a must for the design of the future. Ideally, less is more in favor of higher quality. At the same time, good design in the future should also be “democratic” so that sustainable products are not only affordable for the elite.
4. BLICKFANG is important because…
… in digital times, we urgently need forums where you can experience and feel art, creativity and design in real life, meet in real time, exchange ideas and be inspired. This gives newcomers the opportunity to present their products and ideas to an exciting audience.
5. What good advice would you give young designers today?
Be courageous. Be authentic. Don’t always just trust your head, but also your gut feeling. Network well, but also be offline sometimes and work and meet without a screen.
A great product is the start, but it also needs a creative presentation, professional photos – nowadays also moving images – and good press work to be seen out there. Design a product with an identity and a story.
Henning Riecken I Managing Director Breuninger Hamburg
Henning Riecken holds a degree in business administration and is Managing Director of the Breuninger flagship store in Hamburg, which will open in 2025. Born in Kiel and a qualified tailor, he can look back on over three decades of experience in fashion and lifestyle retail. After working for Peek & Cloppenburg in Düsseldorf and Vienna, where he was Director Retail Management, he joined Breuninger in 2018. There, he initially took over the management of the Stuttgart flagship store before managing the store in Nuremberg from 2020. In 2022, Riecken was appointed Managing Director of the new Hamburg location.
Henning Riecken became involved with sustainability in the fashion sector early on: he wrote his thesis on ecological clothing brands – a topic that is more topical than ever today. With a clear eye for customer needs, brand staging and urban life, he has helped shape the development of stationary retail.
1. What defines good design for you?
I am fascinated by the combination of handcrafted design with a surprising and creative touch; the timeless attraction of a designed object is important to me.
2. Which design piece has impressed you recently and why?
A jacket made of blue corduroy, innovatively tailored 70 years ago, with a timelessness and quality that the tailor’s grandson, a well-known chef from Hamburg, can still wear with pride.
3. Where do you see furniture design heading in the future?
We need a combination of new production methods, 3D, one-off production using AI-supported manufacturing processes, combined with a certain longevity and sustainability.
4. BLICKFANG is important because…
…We need a focus on small labels and manufacturers that cannot make it through the big companies on their own and need to generate visibility among customers
5. What good advice would you give young designers today?
To always develop an understanding of the market, what is happening, where are people who might be interested in my product, not to be afraid of joint actions with big players, and to combine innovative production methods with traditional manufacturing processes.
Katharina Roedelius I Founder and Managing Director of Lokaldesign
After studying business administration at the University of Hamburg and working intensively in student initiatives, Katharina Roedelis began her professional career in recruiting at the strategy consultancy BCG. In 2011, she founded Lokaldesign, a furniture store with a focus on promoting independent furniture design talents and giving them a platform. The brands she supported early on include moebe and tiptoe, which were first presented in Germany via Lokaldesign. For some years now, the range has also included a growing selection of its own products.
After stops in Rothenburgsort and Hamburg’s Schanzenviertel district, Lokaldesign has been based at Fischmarkt – right next to Stilwerk – since 2023. After almost 15 years, she can look back on an eventful journey with many courageous design stories.
1. What defines good design for you?
For me, good design is a complete package – it thrives on quality craftsmanship, fantastic materials and well thought-out function. Aesthetics is something very personal, so for me it’s not about general “good taste”, but about the fact that you can feel that someone has thought about it with love and care. A special detail that only becomes apparent at second glance makes the difference for me – it creates a silent connection between the design and the observer. Good design is something very intimate and is based on respect – for the material, the idea and the person who uses it.
2. Which design piece has impressed you recently and why?
I was impressed by the Drawing Series by Jinil Park from Seoul. Her furniture looks like sketched lines on a sheet of paper – fragile, reduced, almost poetic, yet made of sturdy wire. This seemingly two-dimensional lightness creates a strong emotional impact and challenges our usual perception of furniture.
3. Where do you see furniture design heading in the future?
Our resources are not infinite – this must be clear and visible in design. Furniture should once again focus more on genuine durability, high quality and materials that do not burden us.
At the same time, design today must support changeability, creative freedom and individual lifestyles. Modularity and multifunctionality are key approaches to designing contemporary living flexibly and responsibly.
4. BLICKFANG is important because…
…it makes design accessible – not just to look at, but to touch, experience and discuss. Visitors can talk directly to the designers, question their thoughts, exchange ideas and experience products in real life. This personal dialog is incredibly valuable in an increasingly digital world – and especially after the quiet years of the pandemic. Blickfang creates space for genuine interaction and puts design where it belongs: in the middle of life.
5. What good advice would you give young designers today?
Stick to your creative approach and have the courage to think things differently – even if the path is sometimes uncomfortable. Good design needs substance: take a close look at materials, workmanship and function – because quality doesn’t happen by chance. Seek out genuine exchange, with other designers as well as with the people you are designing for. And above all: be curious, empathetic and open – design begins with listening.