Tsubame-Sanjo Factory Festival, Number One in the World!
Following my report on my business trip to Vietnam, I will now begin a series on my business trip to Germany. I plan to make this a multi-part series as well.
I went on a business trip to Germany from October 26th to 30th, 2022 (it was a tough schedule of 5 days and 2 nights...)
The purpose was to attend the awards ceremony for the "Tsubame-Sanjo Factory Museum", which was held in November 2021 as part of the Tsubame-Sanjo Factory Festival, and which won an award in the "Red Dot Design Award" (one of the world's three major design competitions) in the "Brands & Communication Design" category.
The Tsubame-Sanjo Factory Festival is a project of the Local Industry Promotion Center. As I am the Mayor of Sanjo and also the Chairman of the Local Industry Promotion Center this year, I attended as a representative.
About the "Red Dot Design Award"
Founded in 1955, the "Red Dot Design Award" is one of the world's largest design awards and is known as one of the three major design awards in the world, alongside Germany's "iF DESIGN AWARD" and America's "IDEA". It is categorized into three areas: Product Design, Brands & Communication Design, and Design Concept. The Grand Prix is an award given to particularly outstanding works selected from among the works that received the highest award in each category, the "Best of the Best".
For this year's Red Dot Design Award, there were over 9,000 entries from around the world, and as shown in the press release below ↓, we had actually received prior notification that we had won the highest award, the "Best of the Best".
There were only about 9 winners of the "Best of the Best" in the Brands & Communication Design category this year.
Strictly speaking, there is a "Grand Prix" above the "Best of the Best", but since being in the top 9 in the world is already a great honor, I headed to the awards ceremony in high spirits.
The awards ceremony proceeded, and it was finally time for the announcement of the Brands & Communication Design category.
Based on the flow of the ceremony up to that point, for the "Grand Prix" which is above the "Best of the Best", a cool movie created by the organizers + a video message from the judges (explaining the evaluation points) would play before the announcement of the "Grand Prix" winner.
On the other hand, for the "Best of the Best", the winner was announced after the movie created by the organizers, without a video message from the judges.
About an hour after the start of the ceremony, our "Tsubame-Sanjo Factory Museum" introduction movie finally began to play.
Then, huh?, huh?, huh???
To my surprise, in addition to the introduction movie, the faces of the judges also began to appear. And the evaluation points from the judges also began to play...
Yes, the Tsubame-Sanjo Factory Museum had won the "Grand Prix", which is even higher than the "Best of the Best"!!!
For the flow of the Grand Prix announcement and the award ceremony on stage, please check the video on the Tsubame-Sanjo Factory Festival Instagram account, as shown above.
Perhaps we should have cheered more, but we were so happy that we actually projected a calm atmosphere on stage!
But every member who was there was deeply moved!
After the award ceremony, we took a commemorative photo with the trophy. Can you tell how happy we are from these smiles?
The "Tsubame-Sanjo Factory Festival" started in 2013. This year, 2022, marked exactly our 10th year.
We are grateful to everyone who has built up the Tsubame-Sanjo region and everyone who has been involved in the Tsubame-Sanjo Factory Festival for being able to achieve such a wonderful result in such a milestone year.
The Tsubame-Sanjo Factory Festival Executive Committee also shared the following wonderful message regarding the Grand Prix win.
The exhibition "Tsubame-Sanjo Factory Museum," held in 2021, won the Grand Prix in the Brands & Communication Design category of the "Red Dot Design Award," one of the world's three major design awards! The "Red Dot Design Award," established in 1955, is one of the world's largest design awards and is known as one of the three major design awards alongside Germany's "iF DESIGN AWARD" and America's "IDEA." It is categorized into three areas: Product Design, Brands & Communication Design, and Design Concept. The Grand Prix is awarded to particularly outstanding works selected from those that have already received the "Best of the Best" award in each category. This year, 6 works were selected from over 9,000 entries. Representing us at the award ceremony were Sanjo Mayor Ryo Takizawa, who is also the chairman of the Tsubame-Sanjo Regional Industries Promotion Center, the project's main body, and members of the executive committee. This is the first time in Japan that a project involving the government has won a Grand Prix.
The award-winning "Tsubame-Sanjo Factory Museum" was the first time an exhibition that had previously toured domestically and internationally was held locally in Tsubame-Sanjo. Set in a former factory that once manufactured polishing machines, it introduced high-quality products created by the skills of Tsubame-Sanjo craftsmen, the history and culture of Tsubame-Sanjo, and the history of the "Tsubame-Sanjo Factory Festival." Along with the products, materials and tools were also displayed, and videos of the work process were projected onto metal screens. The content, which unraveled the process of how familiar products are born through the exhibition, gained a strong reputation.
The exhibition aimed to be an opportunity to re-examine the power and history of Tsubame-Sanjo's manufacturing together with the local community and connect it to the next era. We are very honored that our efforts have been recognized in the prestigious form of a Grand Prix award. We would like to once again express our respect to the many craftsmen who support the Tsubame-Sanjo region and to all those involved. And to pass that flame on to the next generation, we will continue to connect people through KOUBA.
By the way, the Red Dot Design Award's Instagram account is very sophisticated—perhaps that's to be expected since it's a design award. It's fascinating to look at, so please take a look as well.