The German Design Award is the top international prize presented by the German Design Council (Frankfurt/Main). Its goal is to discover, present and pay tribute to unique design trends. The council gives prizes to excellent submissions from the worlds of product and communications design, all of which are pioneering on the global design landscape in their own way. This year, over 5,400 products and communications designs were submitted, but only 50 of those received the German Design Award 2019’s top gold accolade – and Wilkhahn’s Metrik cantilever chair (design: whiteID) belongs to this select group.
In the case of the Metrik cantilever chair, Wilkhahn overturned the typical design principle of the cantilever chair where the seat and backrests are attached to a load-bearing tubular steel structure or suspended in seat shells: here, the seat merges directly with the tubular steel frame. Due to the distinctive but understated design and choice of colourways, Metrik can be combined with diverse table/desk concepts and office chairs. It’s also stackable – and not just the bright chrome-plated frame version but the black chrome-plated one too. Metrik symbolises the company’s ongoing quest to develop traditional product types towards a contemporary aesthetic and usage.