The tenth biannual Design Prize Switzerland was held. From over 300 entries and 36 nominated projects, the eight-member international jury selected six winners in different categories. The competition with a total prize money of CHF 195,000 attracts domestic and foreign designers with a relation to Switzerland. Schoeller Technologies AG has been awarded with the Textile Design Award 2009 by SWISS TEXTILES & ZUMSTEG FOUNDATION for the textile finishing technology "coldblack®: Sun Reflector - UV Protector". coldblack® is the result of a close cooperation between Schoeller and Clariant International.

“coldblack® represents a practically invisible but enormously useful design achievement,” said juror Daniel Zehntner. “One that deserves to be known and recognized in the highest degree. The twofold protective function of this innovative high-tech textile treatment is a technical masterstroke with extensive practical relevance in the fields of design and preventive health care”. Hans-Jürgen Hübner, CEO of Schoeller Group, and Hans U. Kohn, COO of Schoeller Technologies were delighted to receive the prize, which was remunerated with 50,000 Swiss Francs.

"This award is the third award within one year for coldblack®", states a content Hans U. Kohn. "And the market response to this product is very positive." Thomas Winkler, Head Textile Business from Clariant, confirms, "Within short time, we have been able to record a large number of partners that are developing products with coldblack® in the manufacturing sector.”

Hans-Jürgen Hübner added, "coldblack® is not only an example of a versatile, modern and successful textile function, but also an example of new forms of cooperation." Since the development of the finish, SME Schoeller is working closely with the multinational company, Clariant International Ltd.

“Schoeller employees about 200 people and is very nimble and dynamic, and we have, in collaboration with Clariant, approximately 18,000 people around the world guaranteeing customer focus and consistency.

The synergy of this collaboration is extremely positive.” For both companies, research initiatives made from Switzerland are very important. coldblack® is a new textile finishing technology with a double benefit: The first being that it reduces the absorption of solar rays so that dark textiles, in particular, heat up significantly less when exposed to sunlight.

The second benefit is that this technology provides reliable protection from damaging UV rays. Regardless of their color, all textiles with the coldblack® finish feature a UV protection factor of at least 30.

Local creativity with a global broadcast

"A Good Year”, stated the jury to the present design community, which had arrived numerously to the Design Center in Langenthal. Albert Kriemler from Swiss fashion company AKRIS in St. Gallen was granted a Merit Award for his tireless performance for Swiss Design.

Martin Leuthold, Designer of Jakob Schlaepfer AG won “The Textile Design Award for innovative solutions for textiles” for the fabric “Secret Garden”. The "Textile Design Award for research and development in textile sector" was, as mentioned, given to Schoeller Technologies for coldblack. All three textile design winners come from the canton of St. Gallen and enjoy long standing excellent reputations – regionally and internationally.