Permobil brings home the gold - twice

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Permobil and Doug Garven, designer and product manager, have won two prestigious international design awards for the TiLite CR1 manual wheelchair.  

They won gold in both the A’ Design Award & Competition and International Awards Associate MUSE Design Awards.  

Garven, who has been designing manual wheelchairs for more than 30 years, began working on the CR1 in 2018.  

“It is an honor for us to be the recipient of both of these awards and it is without a doubt a career highlight. It is fantastic that our commitment to leading edge design and innovation at Permobil is recognized in this way,” said Garven, principal product manager. “Our vision was to create the ultimate, daily-use chair. We drew inspiration from previous designs, Formula 1 race cars and even elements from the stealth fighter jet F-22 Raptor.” 

Garven and Permobil received the Gold Award for the A' Product Engineering and Technical Design category.  

The MUSE Design Awards gave Permobil and Garven their “Gold Winner” designation for the category of Product Design – Medical Devices. The TiLite CR1 was one of the winners chosen from more than 8,500 entries around the world. 

"Doug Garven's tireless dedication and personal experience as a wheelchair user have propelled Permobil to win dual gold honors in international design, affirming our commitment to innovation and user-centric solutions,” said Audra Watt, vice president of marketing. “These awards are a testament to the employees and users who make up the Permobil brand and our TiLite products.”