Danish design and furniture company out-sider has received the international iF Design Award for the latest addition to their growing furniture range for urban spaces, Plateau SunHub.
out-sider’s major new venture Plateau SunHub impressed the World Design Guide jury and took the iF Design Award for best product. Plateau SunHub is a modern table/bench set with integrated technology that is completely powered by solar panels.
“With Plateau SunHub we have created quite possibly Denmark’s most sociable piece of outdoor furniture. It attracts people to the urban environment, as friends, families, colleagues and students can all gather round this table. They can charge their phones and computers, and they can listen to music from the built-in speakers. And on a summer evening you can sit out until the sun comes up, since SunHub illuminates the table,” explains Ib Mogensen, Managing Director of out-sider, with pride.
The jury, which is made up of 78 experts from around the world, had the job of judging no less than 7,298 entries from 56 countries and gave the following justification for awarding out-sider the prize for ‘Best Product’:
“The product is outstanding, and it deserves top-class results. Therefore the independent international jury chose to honour Plateau SunHub with an iF DESIGN AWARD 2020.”
The jury assesses the products in relation to the following criteria: innovation and development, functionality, aesthetics, responsibility and positioning. Plateau SunHub from out-sider lives up to the requirements of several of these criteria according to the jury, and was specifically highlighted for the following characteristics:
- The capacity of the product to serve as a social meeting place with integrated, intelligent technology.
- The product invites physical, social interaction, while allowing users to always be online using the table’s three different options for charging, the integrated speakers and the automatic lighting when it gets dark.
- The product’s configuration and capacity to accommodate up to 12 people, allowing easy eye contact between them. In addition, it invites people to spend more time together.
- Its flexibility meets the need for seating, while at the same time it is technologically future-proof with absolutely no CO2 emissions.
International recognition and quality stamp
The iF Design Award, which is the world’s oldest design competition, is a recognised quality stamp in the design industry, covering everything from products and packaging to architecture and service design. The prize has been awarded every year since 1953.
“It’s a huge deal for us to win this design award and receive an international pat on the back. We have worked hard to be able to launch a truly functional and aesthetic product that creates brand new possibilities for urban spaces and how we spend time together outdoors,” says Ib Mogensen, and continues: “We are delighted that the judges have seen the uniqueness of Plateau SunHub and singled us out from over 7,000 other impressive designs.”
The designer responsible for the solution is Holscher Design, which has 25 years of experience and is one of Scandinavia’s most renowned and award-winning design studios. The collaboration with out-sider came about when Holscher Design won a competition to create the most interesting table/bench set. They presented Plateau Picnic, and won the opportunity to collaborate based on the iconic look, which is both innovative and contemporary and can seat a large number of users at the same time.
out-sider has just launched SunHub internationally, making their Plateau Picnic more than just a piece of furniture, as it now allows users to take their work outside or simply create a convivial atmosphere – wholly CO2 neutral using natural energy from the solar panels.
The company 'out-sider' was established in 2007 as a challenge to the traditional urban furniture market in Scandinavia. out-sider is headed by Ib Mogensen, majority shareholder, managing director and the creative brain behind the company.
The goal of out-sider was to invent new design icons for the outdoor space, and after only a few years of existence, we succeeded in delivering on promise with the LOOP family. 'Rethink Urban Space' is our mission statement, and we aim to excite and challenge with new and surprising urban equipment – we dare and we can.
Today out-sider has an international profile, based in Denmark with distributors worldwide.
We have courage and passion – sky is the limit.