Schoeller Technologies AG has been awarded the Textile Design Award 2009 by the Swiss Textiles & Zumsteg Foundation for its sun reflector and UV protector textile finishing technology ‘coldblack’.

The tenth biannual Design Prize Switzerland, which was held on 6 November attracted over 300 entries, nominated 36 projects and the eight-member international jury selected six winners in different categories. The competition with total prize money of CHF 195,000 attracts domestic and foreign designers with a connection to Switzerland.

“coldblack is the result of a close cooperation between Schoeller and Clariant International and represents a practically invisible but enormously useful design achievement,” said juror Daniel Zehntner.

“One that deserves to be known and recognised in the highest degree. The two-fold 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", said a contented 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, Schoeller has been working closely with the multinational company, Clariant International Ltd.

“Schoeller employes about 200 people and are very nimble and dynamic, and Clariant, approximately 18,000 people around the world guarantee 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.

Albert Kriemler from Swiss fashion company Akris in St. Gallen was granted a Merit Award for his tireless efforts on behalf of Swiss Design. Martin Leuthold, Designer of Jakob Schlaepfer AG won ‘The Textile Design Award for innovative solutions for textiles’ for the fabric ‘Secret Garden’. All three textile design winners come from the canton of St. Gallen and enjoy long standing excellent reputations, both regionally and internationally.

For 20 years, the biannual Design Prize Switzerland has both observed and made an impression on the market, honours outstanding achievements and sees its role as that of giving uncompromising encouragement to adventurous ideas which will create new paths for the future of design. The competition has established itself as a valuable tool for promoting and positioning outstanding design from Switzerland.

In 2009 the Jury Members Konstantin Grcic, Martin Heller, Ascan Mergenthaler, Jasper Morrison, Lars Muller, Eugenio Perazza; Robb Young and Daniel Zehntner awarded a total of five Awards in the categories of Market, Newcomer, Textile Design Award and Product Design plus a Merit Award.