Brian Hoehl, the Global Head of Design for Accell Group was presented the title: Designer of the Year 2022 in USA, while being nominated as the Designer of the Year in Europe during the years 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and also 2021. Brian is also a pioneer in the bicycle industry, working as the catalyst between fantastic bikes’ brand keys and identity, in addition to the industrial design DNA behind in maintaining the consistency of product lines. He is also an expert in brand building, utilizing design thinking processes to assist in the establishment of labels.
Armed with more than 10 years of experience in the development and designing of products for countries across the world, Brian is best suited as one of the judges within the jury panel. Within the last 18 years of his career, he has participated in the cooperation with many automotive companies developing e-mobility vehicles and concepts in the micro mobility sector. Besides his personal strengths, he is also a winner of more than 200 international design awards, further adding to his qualifications. A magnificent feat is that he is the designer and also inventor of the original battery inside the downtube, or now mainly known as Bosch power tubes.
Samuel Chuffart, the current Global Design Director of Icona, is one of the founding members in 2010, with only 2 designers during that point in time. Until now, Samuel has succeeded in growing his company to greater heights, proving his own abilities as a leader. Under his lead, Icona now has had a turnover of 18 million Euros during 2017, with Samuel managing a team of 74 designers located in three continents, while they continue to take on projects simultaneously.
Samuel also made massive contribution during his time at Nissans’ design studios, as he was directly related to several highly acclaimed design concepts and production cars, being instrumental in the creation and realization of the Nissan DNA known to the world today. In wake of his success, Samuel was able to garner worldwide experience, while being plenty successful in the realization of a wide variety of designing projects, making his name known to the world.
Industrial designer, entrepreneur, and investor, those are the roles of Bret Recor, the founder and director of the design studio box Clever in San Francisco. As a veteran in the industry, he has worked with known brands like Knoll, Herman Miller, Away, Nebia, and many more. Furthermore, Bret is also a professional in creating physical experiences that delight consumers and help companies to improve in their market categories. With his leadership, Box Clever was able to achieve accolades of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Design Companies of 2021.
His vision of changing the norm in design consultancies has led him to launch his own funding that will work with startups in a different way, merging funding and design to fuel innovation and create personalized solutions for partners. Bret is also a professional in balancing creative vision with real-world experience and engineering prowess. His ability to draw ideas from concepts and turn them into marketing processes is extraordinary, which results in the designing of best-selling products like Away luggage, Caraway cookware, and July air conditioners.
View the full list of jurors for the NY Product Design here .
Read the full winner press release for Season 1 of the awards through this link.