Prague, 3 May 2022
The Czech company SilentLab won a prestigious prize at the international IF Design Awards 2022. The domestic manufacturer of acoustic design won in the Product Design category with its MICROOFFICE® UNIQ product. The IF Design Awards competition is one of the oldest awards for design which has been drawing attention to interesting design advances since 1954. Thanks to this award, MICROOFFICE® UNIQ achieved a global first in the field, which is a great international success for Czech design.
The Czech company SilentLab was founded six years ago as a start-up and attracted attention on the domestic and foreign markets thanks to its unique solution for untraditional meeting pods.
“We’re delighted that our globally unique phone box prototype with a glass ceiling—MICROOFFICE® UNIQ—made it to the final of a prestigious competition like the IF Design Awards. Despite the tough international competition, we’re now taking this wonderful award away. It proves that SilentLab is one of the world’s best in its field,” said SilentLab CEO Jaroslav Vendl in response to the victory.
The international IF Design Awards competition is arranged by the oldest independent design organisation in the world, iF International Forum Design GmbH, which is based in Hannover, Germany. The registered products were assessed by 132 experts from throughout the world. The competition, which was for the Seal of Quality, was tough.
Almost 11,000 proposals from 57 countries were sent to this year’s competition. Awards were given out in the following fields: product, packaging, communications and service design, as well as architecture, interior architecture, professional concept, user experience (UX) and user interface (UI).
MICROOFFICE® UNIQ won a number of other awards in the past, including the Red Dot Design Award and German Design Award. Nevertheless, winning at the IF Design Awards has placed it among the world leaders and secured another significant international success for Czech design.
SilentLab has been producing MICROOFFICE® UNIQ since 2019. It is an iconic telephone booth for one user that is used in open space offices. Thanks to its glass walls it provides users with perfect sound insulation and also enables them to have a constant overview of what is happening in the office. Glass walls provide a feeling of open space, and layers of solid wood with double glazing, acoustic foam and a quiet ventilation system provide a person with maximum isolation from their surroundings.
The MICROOFFICE® UNIQ concept with perfect sound insulation is changing work in an open space forever. All the materials are chosen to ensure great acoustics. In a phone box you can shout any way you like, but nobody will hear you and you won’t hear anybody outside. It’s the only product of its type that also has a glass roof.
About the iF DESIGN AWARD
Since 1954, the iF DESIGN AWARD has been recognized as an arbiter of quality for excellent design. The iF Design brand is renowned worldwide for outstanding design services, and the iF DESIGN AWARD is one of the most important design prizes in the world. It honors design achievements in all disciplines: product, packaging, communication and service design, architecture and interior architecture as well as professional concept, user experience (UX) and user interface (UI). All award-winning entries are featured on www.ifdesign.com and published in the iF Design App.
