Back in April Mercedes-Benz and Wallpaper* invited design talent from six universities to take inspiration from the Mercedes-Benz GLK.
Read more about Mercedes-Benz GLK: The contest
Students from six top European designs schools, led by a team mentor, were encouraged to explore the GLK’s design vocabulary, mixing disciplines to examine how future objects could embody the same levels of design, desire and excitement. The resulting designs were judged by a jury chaired by Professor Peter Pfeiffer, Mercedes-Benz’s former chief designer. Judges included designers Fiona Swarovski-Grasser and Werner Baldessarini, A&W editor in chief Barbara Friedrich and Wallpaper’s own editorial director, Richard Cook.
The institutions taking part included Paris’s 250-year-old Ecole Nationale Supérieure des
Arts Décoratifs (ENSAD), Istituto Europeo di Design (IED) in Barcelona, the Istituto Marangoni in Milan, Hamburg’s Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften (HAW), Ecole Cantonale d’Art
de Lausanne (ECAL) in Switzerland, and MOME, the Moholy-Nagy University for Art and Design,
in Budapest.
See the stars of tomorrow show off their creative drive
The prize for the best design concept was awarded to the team of Istituto Marangoni, overseen by Davide Montagna, art director for special projects. Under Montagna’s tutelage, the product design, fashion styling and fashion design students put together a fashion-focused spread of four design items, each extrapolated from the visual elements of the GLK.
Each item embodied ‘four moments of the GLK life’, such as well-being, spare time, relaxation and beauty. Barcelona’s IED, represented by the I+ED multidisciplinary department, attained the prize for best design exhibit for a unique architectural installation: its SOUL project. Paris’s ENSAD was acknowledged with an honourable ‘empathy award’ for its project – the creation of a cinema-style world that had the GLK at its heart.
‘The design:project’ celebrated the GLK, a 4x4 that neatly dovetails the need for compact functionality with expressive design and a strong sense of the typical design features of Mercedes-Benz cars. It’s also proved the perfect springboard for creative experimentation.
-
Rachel Whiteread creates silver collection for Puiforcat inspired by corrugated cardboardThe Turner Prize-winning artist reinterprets imperfection in a new silverware collection with French maison Puiforcat
-
Meet Malak Mattar, the Palestinian artist behind the 'Together for Palestine' concert at London's Wembley ArenaThe London-based artist curates a landmark concert of music and art in support of Gaza, alongside Brian Eno, James Blake, Jamie xx, Neneh Cherry and more
-
A new coffee table book proves that one designer’s trash is another’s treasureThe Rizzoli tome, launching today (16 September 2025), delves into the philosophy and process of Retrouvius, a design studio reclaiming salvaged materials in weird and wonderful ways
-
All the new electric cars and concepts revealed at Munich’s IAA Mobility 2025Munich’s alternative motorshow is now in its third iteration, combining a traditional exhibition space with a conference and large-scale public activations on the streets of the city
-
How will future car interiors take shape? London studio NewTerritory has a vision for automotive designDesign studio NewTerritory has set up a new automotive division to explore the future of car interiors. We interrogate the team
-
A mighty concept coupé from Mercedes-AMG rewrites the electric performance car rulebookThe Mercedes-AMG Concept AMG GT XX is a four-door coupé that explores new approaches to battery tech, brake cooling and aerodynamics. As a sign of things to come, it can’t be ignored
-
The Mercedes-Maybach SL 680 Monogram Series is an eyeful as well as a mouthfulMercedes-Maybach’s first-ever sports car is comprehensively ‘wallpapered’ in the brand’s double-M design. We sampled this monogrammed machine on the coast of Ibiza
-
Mercedes-Benz previews its next-gen people mover with an ultra-luxury EV conceptThe Mercedes-Benz Vision V Concept is an art deco picture palace on wheels, designed to immerse passengers in parallel worlds as they travel
-
The new Smart #5 takes the brand's essential character upmarket and offroadKai Sieber, head of design Smart at Mercedes-Benz Design, discusses the evolution and style of the new Smart #5
-
In celebration of Bruno Sacco, the man who brought order and elegance to Mercedes designThe car designer Bruno Sacco has died. Sacco shaped Mercedes-Benz design for nearly a quarter of a century. We look back on his impressive legacy
-
Does the Mercedes-Maybach SL 680 Monogram Series epitomise Pebble Beach culture?Mercedes-Maybach launched its new SL 680 Monogram Series at Monterey Car Week 2024. How does Maybach's 21st-century take on upper-class motoring square with America's most upscale auto show?
