Designs of the Year 2013 exhibition at the Design Museum, London

There's a giant cauldron, a wooden chair, a library and a video game in the mix: it's time for the Designs of the Year awards, and you know it's nearly Spring when this particular circus comes to town. Showcasing the best designs of 2012 in every category from architecture to fashion, graphics to product and often dubbed 'the Oscars of the design world', the Design Museum's DOTY exhibition opens today. And it's a formidable bunch.

Last year, I was privileged enough to sit on the jury for the awards, alongside Evgeny Lebedev, Hella Jongerius and Sir George Iacobescu CBE. So I can say, first hand, that the important thing here is not who wins, but the whole picture of what's in the show. As the museum's director Deyan Sudjic says, 'Designs of the Year offers a unique chance for visitors to see where the world of design is going, all in one room.'

Finding a single winner might have its uses, but that's not really the point. This is a comprehensive cross section of the world's best designs in a given timeframe. It gives a snapshot of what is going on across the globe. And for the visitor it is mind-blowing how much fantastic innovation there is at a time when most industries are reporting doom and gloom at every opportunity.

There are certain trends evident, too. For example open-source design - do-it-yourself designing and making - is a strong theme this year. 'One of the most significant advances in the last 12 months or so has been the transition of 3D printing technology from R&D labs to the home,' explains curator Pete Collard. 'With the arrival of Makerbot's Replicator 2, it's now possible for people to manufacture their own designs, bypassing the traditional chain of mass-manufacturer to shop to consumer. One of the other designs, a mobility apparatus, coined "Magic Arms", being piloted at a children's hospital in Delaware, demonstrates the benefits of this bespoke, small-scale style of manufacture.'

This year's jury - which includes Griff Rhys Jones, Amanda Levete and Nicolas Roope among others - will be asked to judge Thomas Heatherwick's Olympic Cauldron against a wheelchair that folds flat (by Vitamins Design). Random International's Rain Room sits alongside the design for the gov.uk website and a lightshade made from a constantly growing and bursting bubble (Surface Tension lamp by Front). They're all completely different. They are all completely amazing. The jury has an impossible mission.

But they do have the luxury of spending hours reviewing and dissecting these fantastic nominations one by one. This year's showcase - displayed in an exhibition designed by Faudet-Harrison, featuring suitably optimistic yellow walls and carefully considered vistas allowing the nominees to be admired up close and from afar - includes projects that are jaw droppingly beautiful, such as Lacaton and Vassal's Tour Bois-le-Prêtre in Paris' notorious banlieues; alongside far reaching fashion initiatives such as Yayoi Kusama's collection for Louis Vuitton. Then there are projects that are far from pretty, but have social implications, such as Australia's new cigarette packaging, designed to discourage smokers, and the saviour of many a household: the non-stick ketchup bottle.

I would encourage everyone who visits to play the part of juror - not to choose between the objects, but in the attempt fully absorb the brilliance of what is on show: the importance and impact that design has on us all. In a recent report from The Future Laboratory, in which it polled which professions people felt would be most likely to save the world, scientists were rated top, with politicians, poets and philosophers also all doing their bit. Designers were nowhere to be seen. I was shocked, but then I am biased. It would be interesting to retake this poll on visitors leaving the Design Museum's latest show: it would surely provide a very different picture.

The winners will be announced in April.

Product nominee: Olympic Cauldron, by Heatherwick Studio

A studio

(Image credit: TBC)

A studio

(Image credit: TBC)

Product nominee: Tekio, by Anthony Dickens

Anthony Dickens

(Image credit: TBC)

Anthony Dickens

(Image credit: TBC)

Faceture Vases

(Image credit: TBC)

Product nominee: Faceture Vases, by Phil Cuttance.

Tension Lamp

(Image credit: TBC)

Product nominee: Surface Tension Lamp, by Front

Bang & Olufsen

(Image credit: TBC)

Product nominee: 'Beolit 12'
, by Cecilie Manz, for Bang & Olufsen

MakerBot

(Image credit: TBC)

Product nominee: Replicator 2
, by MakerBot

The lamp

(Image credit: TBC)

Product nominee: 'W127' lamp, by Dirk Winkel for Wästberg

A cycle

(Image credit: TBC)

Product nominee: E- Source, by Hal Watts

Plug Lamp

(Image credit: TBC)

Product nominee: Plug Lamp, by Form Us With Love

Switch Collection

(Image credit: TBC)

Product nominee: Switch Collection, by Inga Sempe, for Legrand

Simon Berry

(Image credit: TBC)

Product nominee: Colalife
, by Simon Berry

Liquiglide Ketchup

(Image credit: TBC)

Product nominee: Liquiglide Ketchup Bottle
, by Dave Smith/Varanasi Research Group MIT

Oigen Kitchenware

(Image credit: Jasper Morrison Studios)

Product nominee: Oigen Kitchenware
, by Jasper Morrison/Japan Creative.

Frederic Malle

(Image credit: TBC)

Product nominee: Frederic Malle Travel Sprays
, by Pierre Hardy

Vision Glasses

(Image credit: TBC)

Product nominee: 'Child Vision Glasses'
, by The Centre for Vision in the Developing World and Goodwin Hartshorn

The Printer

(Image credit: TBC)

Product nominee: Little Printer
, by Berg

Hospital for Children

(Image credit: Cindy Brodoway)

Product nominee: 3D printed exoskeleton 'Magic Arms'
, by Nemours and Alfred I. DuPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Delaware.

Product nominee: Papa Foxtrot Toys
, by PostlerFerguson

Foxtrot Toys

(Image credit: TBC)

Foxtrot Toys

(Image credit: TBC)

A Studio

(Image credit: Kristof Vrancken)

Product nominee: Kiosk 2.0, by Unfold Studio.

Colour Porcelain

(Image credit: TBC)

Product nominee: Colour Porcelain
, by Scholten & Baijings, for 1616 Arita Japan

Architecture nominee: Kukje Art Centre, Seoul
, by SO - IL.

Art Centre

(Image credit: Iwan Baan)

Art Centre

(Image credit: Iwan Baan)

Architecture nominee: Superkilen, Nørrebro, Denmark
, by Big, Topetek1 and Superflex.

Topetek1 and Superflex

(Image credit: Iwan Baan)

Topetek1 and Superflex

(Image credit: Iwan Baan)

Architecture nominee: Metropolitan Arts Centre, Belfast
, by Hackett Hall McKnight.

Arts Centre

(Image credit: Christian Richters)

Arts Centre

(Image credit: Christian Richters)

Lacaton and Vassal

(Image credit: TBC)

Architecture nominee: La Tour Bois-Le-Prêtre, Paris
, by Druot, Lacaton and Vassal

Museum of Contemporary Art

(Image credit: TBC)

Architecture nominee: MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art), Cleveland, USA, by Farshid Moussavi Architecture

The Shard

(Image credit: TBC)

Architecture nominee: The Shard, London, UK, by Renzo Piano

Architecture nominee: A Room For London, Southbank Centre, UK, by David Kohn Architects in collaboration with Fiona Banner.

A Room For London

(Image credit: Charles Hosea)

A Room For London

(Image credit: Charles Hosea)

Astley Castle

(Image credit: TBC)

Architecture nominee: Astley Castle, Warwickshire, UK, by Witherford Watson Mann

Museum of Innocence

(Image credit: TBC)

Architecture nominee: Museum of Innocence, Istanbul
, by Orhan Pamuk with Ihsan Bilgin, Cem Yucel and Gregor Sunder Plassmann

Architecture nominee: Four Freedoms Park, New York, USA
, by Louis Kahn.

Freedoms Park

(Image credit: Paul Warchol)

Freedoms Park

(Image credit: Paul Warchol)

Book Mountain

(Image credit: Jeroen Musch)

Architecture nominee: Book Mountain, Spijkenisse, Holland, by MVRDV.

Architecture nominee: Thalia Theatre, Lisbon, by Gonçalo Byrne Arquitectos & Barbas Lopes Arquitectos

Thalia Theatre

(Image credit: TBC)

Thalia Theatre

(Image credit: TBC)

A home

(Image credit: Naoya Hatakeyama)

Architecture nominee: Home For All, Venice 2012 Architecture Biennale, by Akihisa Hirata, Sou Fujimoto, Kumiko, Naoya Hatakeyama, Inui and Toyo Ito.

The Museum of Modern Art

(Image credit: TBC)

Architecture nominee: Ikea Disobedients, performed at MoMA PS1, New York
, by Andrés Jaque Arquitectos. Courtesy of MoMA The Museum of Modern Art, New York

Architecture nominee: Galaxy Soho, Bejing
, by Zaha Hadid.

Galaxy Soho

(Image credit: Hufton and Crow)

Galaxy Soho

(Image credit: Hufton and Crow)

A chair

(Image credit: Luke Hayes)

Furniture nominee: A-Collection, by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec for Hay.

100 Chairs

(Image credit: Luke Hayes)

Furniture nominee: 100 Chairs, by Marni.

Furniture nominee: Gravity Stool
, by Jolan Van Der Wiel.

Gravity Stool

(Image credit: Luke Hayes)

Gravity Stool

(Image credit: Luke Hayes)

Glacial Table

(Image credit: Luke Hayes)

Furniture nominee: Liquid Glacial Table, by Zaha Hadid.

Studio Mama

(Image credit: TBC)

Furniture nominee: Re-Imagined Chairs, by Nina Tolstrup and Jack Mama at Studio Mama

Medici Chair

(Image credit: TBC)

Furniture nominee: Medici Chair
, by Konstantin Grcic, for Mattiazzi

Corniches

(Image credit: TBC)

Furniture nominee: Corniches, by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, for Vitra

Paper Chair

(Image credit: TBC)

Furniture nominee: Tié Paper Chair
, by Pinwu

Well Proven Chair

(Image credit: TBC)

Furniture nominee: Well Proven Chair, by James Shaw and Marjan van Aubel

Sea Chair

(Image credit: TBC)

Furniture nominee: The Sea Chair
, by Studio Swine and Kieren Jones

Studio Markunpoika

(Image credit: TBC)

Furniture nominee: Engineering Temporality, by Studio Markunpoika

A chairs

(Image credit: TBC)

Furniture nominee: Engineering Temporality, by Studio Markunpoika

Future Primitives

(Image credit: Luke Hayes)

Furniture nominee: Future Primitives
, by Muller Van Severen.

Rain Room

(Image credit: TBC)

Digital nominee: Rain Room, The, Barbican Art Gallery, by Random International

Digital nominee: City Tracking Pt 2, by Stamen

City Tracking

(Image credit: TBC)

City Tracking

(Image credit: TBC)

Digital nominee: Candles In The Wind
, by Moritz Waldemeyer, for Ingo Maurer. © Ingo Maurer GmbH.

Candles In The Wind

(Image credit: Tom Vack Munich)

Candles In The Wind

(Image credit: Tom Vack Munich)

Wind Map

(Image credit: TBC)

Digital nominee: Wind Map
, by Martin Wattenberg and Fernanda Bertini Viegas

Digital nominee: Superstitious Fund Project
, by Shing Tat Chung.

Fund Project

(Image credit: Diego Trujillo)

Digital Postcard

(Image credit: TBC)

Gov.UK Website

(Image credit: TBC)

Digital nominee: Gov.UK Website
, by Government Digital Service

Hedgerow Plate

(Image credit: TBC)

Digital nominee: English Hedgerow Plate
, by Jason Jameson, James Hall and Rhys Griffin of Unanico Group, with Andrew Tanner Design and Royal Winton

Digital nominee: Free Universal Construction Kit
, by Free Art and Technology Lab and Sy-Lab

Lab and Sy-Lab

(Image credit: TBC)

Lab and Sy-Lab

(Image credit: TBC)

A camera

(Image credit: TBC)

Digital nominee: Light Field Camera
, by Lytro

The Chirp

(Image credit: TBC)

Digital nominee: Chirp
, by Patrick Bergel

Raspberry Pi

(Image credit: TBC)

Digital nominee: Raspberry Pi Computer
, by Raspberry Pi Foundation

Zombies

(Image credit: TBC)

Digital nominee: 'Zombies, Run!' app, by Six to Start and Naomi Alderman

Louis Vuitton

(Image credit: Luke Hayes)

Fashion nominee: Louis Vuitton collection, by Yayoi Kusama.

womenswear

(Image credit: TBC)

Fashion nominee: Prada S/S 2012 womenswear collection, by Miuccia Prada

womenswear collection

(Image credit: Luke Hayes)

Fashion nominee: Proenza Schouler A/W 2012 womenswear collection, by Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough.

womenswear

(Image credit: TBC)

Fashion nominee: Giles Deacon A/W12 womenswear collection, by Giles Deacon

The costumes

(Image credit: TBC)

Fashion nominee: 'Anna Karenina' costumes, by Jacqueline Durran

A muscle

(Image credit: TBC)

Fashion nominee: 'I Want Muscle'
, by Elisha Smith-Leverock

The Eye Has To Travel

(Image credit: TBC)

Fashion nominee: 'Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has To Travel', by Lisa Immordino

Access Seat

(Image credit: Luke Hayes)

Transport nominee: Air Access Seat, by Priestmangoode.

A BMC

(Image credit: TBC)

Transport nominee: i3 Concept Car
, by BMW

Donky Bicycle

(Image credit: John Selby)

Transport nominee: Donky Bicycle, by Ben Wilson.

Exhibition Road

(Image credit: TBC)

Transport nominee: Exhibition Road
, by Dixon Jones and The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. © Miller Hare

Exhibition Road

(Image credit: Paul Riddle)

Transport nominee: Exhibition Road
, by Dixon Jones and The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

Touch & Travel

(Image credit: TBC)

Transport nominee: Touch & Travel, by DB Mobility Logistics AG

Folding Wheel

(Image credit: TBC)

Transport nominee: Morph Folding Wheel
, by Vitamins, for Maddak Inc

Chainless Bicycle

(Image credit: TBC)

Transport nominee: Mando Footloose Chainless Bicycle, by Mark Sanders

car

(Image credit: TBC)

Transport nominee: N-ONE
, by Honda

Ellison Collection

(Image credit: TBC)

Graphics nominee: Ralph Ellison Collection, by Cardon Webb

Graphics nominee: Austria Solar Annual Report
, by Serviceplan

Annual Report

(Image credit: TBC)

Annual Report

(Image credit: TBC)

Graphics nominee: 'Dekho: Conversations on Design in India, 
by CoDesign

Design in India

(Image credit: TBC)

Design in India

(Image credit: TBC)

Cigarette Packaging

(Image credit: TBC)

Graphics nominee: Australian Cigarette Packaging
, commissioned by Australian Government Department, for Health and Ageing

Graphics nominee: Zumtobel Annual Report
, by Brighten the Corners and Anish Kapoor

Annual Report

(Image credit: TBC)

Annual Report

(Image credit: TBC)

Graphics nominee: Made in Los Angeles: Work by Colby Poster Printing Co, by Anthony Burrill.

Poster Printing

(Image credit: TBC)

Poster Printing

(Image credit: TBC)

Graphics nominee: 'Kapow!', 
written by Adam Thirlwell and designed by Studio Frith

Studio Frith

(Image credit: TBC)

Studio Frith

(Image credit: TBC)

Art Gallery

(Image credit: TBC)

Art Gallery

(Image credit: TBC)

Graphics nominee: The Gentlewoman #6, by Veronica Ditting & Jop van Bennekom

Gentlewoman

(Image credit: TBC)

Gentlewoman

(Image credit: TBC)

Times Of London

(Image credit: TBC)

Graphics nominee: Occupied Times Of London
, by Tzortzis Rallis and Lazaros Kakoulidis

Strelka Institute

(Image credit: TBC)

Graphics nominee: Strelka Institute identity, by OK-RM

Organic

(Image credit: TBC)

Graphics nominee: Organic
, by Kapitza