German Design Award: Wanzl Does the Triple

Function, aesthetics and emotion – excellent product design happens when all these elements come together beautifully. It’s precisely this interaction that works so well in the Salsa plastic shopping trolley and pure tech shelving system. Both were created at Wanzl and developed by this Leipheim-based company’s interdisciplinary thinktank. They won the “Winner 2018” award in the Excellent Product Design category, for outstanding product design. And with a Special Mention for the interior at Klaas + Kock in Rheine, in the Excellent Communications Design category Wanzl took home a hat trick.

The German Design Award is the international premium prize for unique design trends, given by the German Design Council. “Three awards for two products and a shopfitting project mean that Wanzl is among the best-in-class for design and construction,” commented Jürgen Frank, Head of Marketing and Product Management at Wanzl. The German Design Award will be presented on February 9, 2018 in Frankfurt.

The Salsa represents a new generation in plastic shopping trolleys: with its fresh design and very smooth motion, this trolley brings rhythm to international retail. The 150-litre Salsa is now rolling through stores around the world. The 95-litre version, ideal for short trips for fresh produce or solo shoppers, and in city supermarkets and convenience stores, was introduced in 2017. The “Winner” title was given for the striking and memorable new design concept: it looks vibrant, and its basket structure is a chaotic web of varied, repeated interweaving lines that looks as if it has grown organically. The Salsa nods to current megatrends such as neo-ecology and customisation, and communicates them visually via the nest structure of the basket. The look comes from the production-controlled, geometric wire structure of shopping trolleys, and is broken up using plastic injection moulding in the manufacturing process. The result is a deliberately chaotic pattern in the basket, and an unmistakable appearance.

The pure tech shelving system is a fundamental, basic innovation in shopfitting. Beautifully designed, the very slender, almost transparent upright is innovative and easily identifiable. The series is conceived as a modular design with countless system modules, and offers all the advantages of a wire shelf with a huge load capacity – and in the sheet metal shelf price range. Construction and conversion are easy, quick and require no tools – saving on time and costs. The key is the innovative “Click” system which allows the wire shelves to be installed and rearranged in an instant, and connects them securely to the shelf bracket.

The idea for the overall interior design of Klaas + Kock in Rheine was devised at Wanzl. The energy from the outside shell has been consistently carried through to the interior, and perfectly complemented on the shop floor with the wire tech, EuroShelf, Vitable and YourTable shopfitting systems. The store features an impressive hall-type design, with giant window fronts and a ceiling height of 12.5 m. All routes of movement through the store are clearly structured and generously planned with plenty of space. This project received a Special Mention in the Excellent Communications Design category.