Designers behind the German brassware giant Grohe have been named design team of the year by prestigious European body Red Dot.

The "red dot: design team of the year" title is described as one of the most coveted awards in the global design community and Grohe joins the list of previous winners which includes Bose, BMW, Adidas, Apple, Sony and Audi.

Designers and companies cannot submit entries for this award but have to attract the jurors' attention through their ongoing product design and company policies.

"In times of ongoing globalisation, companies find themselves in phases where they are challenged by external conditions to prove their worth," said Prof. Dr. Peter Zec, the initiator and CEO of the red dot design award.

"Then there are phases when companies prove their worth by coming up with innovative solutions which nobody - not even industry insiders - expected. In its eventful company history, Grohe has experienced both types of phases, but the company's design efforts in the past five years have put it in a completely new position of strength. Design is a value driver and a top management issue at Grohe."

The company and its design team, led by Brit Paul Flowers (pictured), has received several recent product prizes from Red Dot institute, including a series of four 'bet of the best' prizes earlier in the year for its Digital Collection.

"My team and I believe that being named 'red dot: design team of the year' is the design industry's equivalent of winning an Oscar," Flowers said.

"Winning this award means that we have successfully implemented our new company vision. We set out to create experiences which go beyond the product as such. Quality, technology and sustainability are fundamental pillars, which are genuinely acknowledged by consumers. However, our ambition was to take this relationship to a higher level by converting their acknowledgement into a feeling of love for our products. Through our designs we have been able to achieve this."

The in-house Grohe Design Studio is part of the company's corporate centre in Düsseldorf and reports directly to CEO David Haines. Grohe says this position in the corporate hierarchy affords the creative team considerable freedom to innovate and experiment with new ideas.