The best designers of the red dot design award 2007 in interview: Ergonomidesign

The Swedish company Ejendals received the red dot: best of the best for outstanding design achievements for their protective gloves of the Tegera Pro Series in this year’s red dot award: product design. Ejendals has been the leading Scandinavian manufacturer of protective gloves and work clothing for more than 50 years. The Swedish design company Ergonomidesign AB designed the high-quality protective gloves, with which the designers could again win a red dot. red dot online spoke with the design team about the intention behind Tegera Pro.

What inspired you to create this particular product and what was the intention behind it?

Firstly, Ejendals principal ambition is to be a forerunner in the area of hand protection.  The professional gloves in the Tegera PRO range are developed to fulfil very high demands on protection, comfort and durability. This formed an extremely inspiring and challenging basis for our design work.

Wrist injuries are common among professionals in many jobs. Construction workers, assembly workers and mechanics frequently put too great strain on their wrists which can lead to pain, discomfort or injury. We have studied people at different work sites, observing and interviewing end users in their working environment. This in order to see how different tasks are performed and what criteria should be met in a protective glove to support and protect the wrists. A close dialogue with occupational health service staff was a guiding force in the development. 

The angle of the wrist is crucial for how long work can be maintained without causing strain and be at risk for long term disorders. Extreme wrist positions should be avoided and the new Tegera PRO models aid this. The intention behind the design is that the wrist support stabilizes the wrist without hindering activities.

What does being awarded with the “red dot: best of the best” mean to you?

We are very proud to receive this prestigious and highest distinction, the best of the best award.  It is of course very inspiring for our design team, including the people at Ejendals with whom we collaborate. For Ergonomidesign it’s also an international confirmation of the professional standard of our ergonomic research and design.

What particular challenges do you think designers have to face these days?

The environmental issues and the positive factor that people survive and live longer than ever before. There are two major challenges: To design for sustainability and to make products and environments that work for each of us. As development is going faster today great skills are needed to maintain a high professional level.

As a designer what would you still like to accomplish in the future?

Our ambition is to create value for people and brands. We want to promote a kind of value conscious consumerism, linked to the previous question of sustainability and high performance products.

What do you think is the economic significance of design?

According to our experience a conscious and well executed design investment always generates multiple return of investment (ROI). Ejendals Tegera PRO series is a great example of this with 1.000.000 gloves sold last year.

We have seen that lots of our designs, focusing on the end user, have resulted in great commercial success for many of our clients and numerous red dot awards.

The working man is the focus of attention in Ejendals’ product development. The company philosophy is to always think one step ahead and to contribute to making everyday work life safer and easier. The design company Ergonomidesign AB, which is responsible for the design of Tegera Pro 9195 and Tegera Pro 9295, is regularly receiving distinctions for its outstanding design achievements in the red dot design award.

The jury of the red dot award: product design 2007 was impressed by the innovative realisation of traditional forms and selected the protective gloves of the Tegera Pro Series as the best of the products submitted in the category “Industry and Trade.” The gloves made of Macrothan are designed in different shades of grey contrasted with yellow. Macrothan is a highly breathable and durable membrane, which the manufacturer combines with special high-quality seams that withstand any strain. The protective gloves of the Tegera Pro Series also feature a pad for the ball of the thumb and a wrist support with a Velcro fastener for fatigue-free working.

The red dot jury examines the submitted products’ degree of innovation, formal quality, ergonomics, durability and ecological compatibility. In all factors the Tegera Pro 9195 and the Tegera Pro 9295 could convince the jury of experts of their overall outstanding design quality.