Winner of the Design Management Award 2019
Award winner
Varga-Flexo Ltd.
Varga-Flexo – a family business that has been operating for more than twenty-five years now with the participation of the family’s third generation – specialises in the design and production of flexographic printing presses, laminators, slitters and plate-mounters, which constitute a special segment of the printing industry. A market leader in Hungary and a company with an increasingly dynamic international presence, Varga-Flexo is committed to the highest standards of innovation, as well as technology- and design-driven development and client management. It maintains contact with its consumers after its machines are installed through providing professional advice, training, non-stop servicing, spare part supply and development support. Thanks to its online remote service system, it can instantly address questions and look for the solutions to problems by connecting to the machines in question.
By now design thinking has become an integral part of the business’s operation. At the beginning of this process the company set itself the objective of harmonising its corporate identity with the quality and technical content of its products, and thanks to the work carried out in the last few decades it has a competitive advantage on the market in regard to product and software design. Complex innovation, which is at the heart of the company owners’ progressive attitude and is their main drive, brought Varga-Flexo significant advancement and long-term success, not only contributing to an increase in exports but also helping buyers to join the global value chain more successfully and thus be a beneficiary of the added value the company creates.
The active involvement of employees in the company’s internal processes released thus far unexploited creative energies. The open and inspiring atmosphere and positive feedback affect not only product development but also impact the direct working environment and corporate communication, while generating further success. The professional experience the company gained during its more than twenty-five-year history is reflected in its operation and commitment to the printing profession. Varga-Flexo’s longterm strategic thinking is exemplified by the fact that besides motivating and providing further training to its own experts, it is committed to supporting the work of educational institutions and sharing the knowledge it has accumulated. In order to realise the latter ambition, the owners founded the Flexo Innovation Cluster in conjunction with like-minded companies. This Cluster is an efficient forum of knowledge transfer and a means of promoting a continuous professional dialogue between market players that believe in cooperation as a possible path of development, while being open and willing to devote resources to innovation and joint development projects.
The attitude Varga-Flexo represents stands out as an example since their consistent hard work and progressive philosophy has turned the family business that started out from the small village of Lengyeltóti into a globally recognised business with its products being competitive from Los Angeles to Moscow.
Jury statement
Varga-Flexo Ltd is a Hungarian representative of cutting edge printing technology with the fruitful combination of design thinking and innovative management having formed the core of its activity since the beginning of its 25-year-old history. Technological innovation was only the first step on the path that leads from identifying international trends to becoming its influencer as a market leader. Using the tools of design management, the company first renewed its development process, then its physical and intellectual working environment and finally its diverse communication practice.
The family enterprise employs fifty professionals and became a ‘high-tech manufactory’ – to use their own phrase – by involving every member of their community in the challenges of realising new developments. Team work, in-house tenders and the maximum exploitation of talent are the foundation of their consistently transparent strategy implementation. Commitment in the area of feedback generated a uniquely self-driven process of updating the product portfolio and contributed to the increasingly efficient implementation of market operations. All this is made outstandingly successful thanks to the business’s thorough research and analysis of the customer environment and its needs as well as the utilisation of this knowledge with a consistent managerial attitude.
Varga-Flexo’s absolute dedication to the practice of social responsibility is manifest in their participation in the university education of professional and innovation management know-how and the presentation of case studies. Passing down the company’s values and its internal traditions and the community-level acknowledgment of individual achievement are a pronounced part of the business’s corporate culture, and this ’team spirit’ has been recognised not only by the business’s development partners – e.g. the Industry 4.0 sectoral management of Bosch – but also by the audiences of prominent international trade fairs and exhibitions.
Based on the above, the special distinction awarded to Varga-Flexo at last year’s Hungarian Innovation Grand Prix and its winning the concept category of the Hungarian Design Award were clearly justified and well deserved. A worthy addition to these is this year’s Design Management Award, which we grant to Varga-Flexo for its exemplary performance, value system and business attitude, which will be detailed below.
Special Prize Awarded by the Herend Porcelain Manufactory Ltd.
Multifelt Factory Ltd.
Multifelt Factor Ltd was established only a few years ago but can already boast of several achievements. The founders saved a factory with a prominent industrial historical past from disappearance and made it fl ourish, while facilitating the progressive presence of a traditional product with long-term potential. Their example can hardly bematched by similar businesses. Multifelt produces felts using the traditional wet felting technology. They discovered interior design and design-based solutions when searching for modern and progressive uses for their felts. Today the most important target group of the business is the wide circle of designers, who can realise their individual designs and implement solutions fully tailored to specific projects thanks to the factory. In addition, they cater to hobby artists, schools as well as groups of children and adults, while also having the capacity to produce felt for industrial use.
Multifelt is in constant search of alternatives not only in the use of felt but also place great emphasis on raising awareness of this raw material, which they promote through organising workshops and factory visits among other things. Their strategic thinking is also manifest in the sustainable production technology, since the entire manufacturing process is zero waste and free from chemicals.
At the moment, the business is working on the development of a design-centred production method and a creative workshop where the complete implementation process can be carried out, thus facilitating the realisation of individual projects.
The brand provides a sensitive response to market challenges and the operation of the business proves that with openness and fl exibility direct collaboration is possible even in an industrial context. Design thinking appears both in the products and the daily management of the business; moreover, the founders believe that this holds the key to the future of the only felt factory in Hungary.
Jury statement
Multifelt Factory Ltd deals with products made of felt. The Hungarian textile industry virtually disappeared at the time of the change in the political and economic system and felt production in Koszeg did not have a bright future either. The hope of survival for the 120-year-old factory came with the emergence of a new social demand and way of thinking. Two mothers, who could not find raw material for their kindergarten handicraft projects, discovered the factory, which looked promising even in its rather dilapidated state. The two women entered the business arena equipped with the basics of marketing, the operation of multinationals and a knowledge of economics while being driven by design thinking.
They desired and realised what is written in the big book of business: they built up a team, recruited colleagues, made their workers interested in their work and gave them a sense of commitment, while adding high quality and design content to each of their products.
Their business plan is built on strategic product development, professional market research, social sensitivity and sustainable development. They know where they are on the global market, while looking for business niches and thinking in the long term. The basis of their activity is to support young applied artists, for example with their competition called FELT FOR YOU, as well as to realise transparent cooperation with designers, suppliers and partners.
Multifelt Factory clearly embraces the philosophy of using traditional technology, while striving to be a factory with a modern vision, which they see as the key to long-term success.
The jury awarded the special prize to the company in recognition that design thinking has played a strategic role in the owners’ business management and has permeated all the business operations from the very start; driven by the objective of experience creation, they manage to generate positive emotions in users, while keeping social responsibility and sustainability at the forefront of their activity, making these values an integral part of their corporate culture.
The jury recognised four other candidates for their exemplary achievement with a certificate of distinction
Association of Carpet Designers
The association was founded in early 2017, after several years of preparatory work and market research, with the aim of representing applied carpet design. Inspired by the positive reputation of domestic carpet manufacturing, it is their ambition to call attention to the potential of contemporary Hungarian carpet design. They are working to revive a genre that was a serious market player thirty years ago in Hungary but which is now only sporadically present. SZETT wants to show the young generation the diversity of carpet manufacturing, while demonstrating to the market players and fellow designers that high quality, individual and smallseries carpets can be made in Hungary too. To realise this ambition, the association established the RUG ART LAB at the time of its founding to manage the further training projects of designers, to whom they regularly provide the opportunity to display their products in SZETT’s show room. Designers from all over Hungary are invited by the association to the annual meeting of the RUG ART FESTContemporary Carpet Designers.
Maform Ltd.
The design studio was established in the autumn of 2010 by Géza Csire and Péter Molnár L. with the aim of utilising Hungarian design knowledge and exporting it transparently, via the market. The up and coming designer team has more than ten members and their mission is to bring the benefits of technology and scientific innovation to people with the tools of design. In doing so they also add their own research and development results and work on a project basis. They receive foreign commissions too and the international recognition of their designs is shown by several prizes.
Pataki Tiles Ltd.
Pataki Tiles, established by Mátyás Pataki, a sculptor, metalsmith and designer, has been committed to the design and manufacturing of special hand-made premium category tiles since 2001. The business first has one or two employees but now it employs eight ceramicists and two designers, who also take part in sales and product development. The past and the present meet in their workshop in Újszentiván to produce valuable, lasting and distinctive objects; technological and artistic implementation are intertwined here, enabling the business to satisfy the most diverse design commissions equipped with great professionalism. They belong to the so called new craft trend of contemporary design.
Teqball Ltd.
TEQBALL, developed by Gábor Borsányi, György Gattyán and Viktor Huszár, is a new sport and sport equipment mainly based on soccer and functions as an excellent skills development tool for professionals and amateurs alike. Its supporters include world stars and sports legends. The product group of TEQBALL, a business built on the basic product, has a globally unified appearance and high quality combining the traditional values of sport with a modern design approach. The team behind the brand uses strategic design management application and strives to realise systematic value creation not only in the international environment of companies but also in the universal world of sport.
