Steel Innovation Award 2018 For Stainless Steel Mesh SEDA | “steel design”
On June 13th, 2018, the 11th Steel Innovation Prize was awarded on the occasion of the “Berlin Steel Dialogue” in Telekom’s representative office in Berlin, under the patronage ofArndt G. Kirchhoff of Kirchhoff Automotive Holding GmbH + Co KG. With the Steel Innovation Prize, the German steel industry awards innovations, products, and processing technology in the steel sector every three years.
500 invited guests from the world of industry and politics, including the minister of economic affairs Peter Altmaier and Prof. Dr. Andreas Pinkwart, minister for economy, innovation, digitalisation and energy of the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, were led through the evening by charming host Dunja Hayali.
From the 561 submissions of companies in the sectors steel products, steel in construction business, research and development, as well as steel design, a jury of 20 experts from the fields of industry, science, design, and architecture had nominated 13 award winners.
In the category “steel design”, proMesh GmbH from Mühlacker was awarded the Steel Innovation Prize for their development of the stainless steel mesh “SEDA”. The competition is endowed with a prize money of 60,000 Euros. Furthermore, the winners received a steel sculpture made by Mannheim-based artist Stefanie Welk.
With SEDA, proMesh has developed a new stainless steel mesh that visually and haptically reminds of soft textile fabric, but which possesses all characteristics of stainless steel. Like textile fabric, SEDA is classically manufactured with a warp and weft “thread” made of 0.05 millimetre thin stainless steel wire type 1.4301. The woven panels are 1.5 metres wide and about 0.1 millimetres thick. As with any other textile fabric, this stainless steel mesh can be cut, sewed, hung, or stretched.
Looking at the silky, shining and creasing surface of the stainless steel mesh, it is rather surprising that SEDA was originally intended for technical use, such as the filtration of liquids or gases. But proMesh quickly realized that there would be multiple possibilities of application for SEDA especially in the sector of architecture and interior design.
With its light and air permeability, SEDA is opaque and transparent, UV-resistant, colour-fast, and fire-proof due to its pure metallic structure. Therefore, as a material it is perfectly suited for public buildings such as theatres, schools, hotels, trade fair and event buildings in which it is already being used as classic and decorative veil, as light and visual protection, or ceiling element of stable shape.
