First step towards a design career

Floating air cleaning appliance wins

Electrolux Design Lab 2012 Contest

A hands-free stirring utensil. A tasting spoon that tells you what ingredient is lacking. This is what the future of household and cooking appliances looks like at the 10th annual Electrolux Design Lab competition. Aeroball by Jan Ankiersztajn from Poland was awarded first prize in competition finals at the Triennale Design Museum in Milan.

The jury was impressed with how the student’s creative and insightful thinking reflected this year’s theme, Design Experience, and how successfully the concept met the challenge of creating a holistic sensorial experience. The winning concept is a collection of luminescent, hovering balls that can filter and fragrance the air in a room. They float using helium and drift down to the ground when they are ready to be changed.

“We rely on our senses for almost everything, so considering the senses is an important factor when designing appliances,” said Thomas Johansson, Design Director at Electrolux and head of the jury. “This year’s winning concept Aeroball is a truly innovative concept that uses space in a unique way and delights our surroundings. It also changes our perception of an air cleaner, because it is delicate in aesthetics, it is emotional and also relevant, because it addresses the consumer’s needs.”

Electrolux, a pioneer in innovative appliances for home and professional use for almost 100 years, conceived of Design Lab, now celebrating its 10^th anniversary, to stimulate and activate industrial design students on a global level by inviting them to present truly breakthrough ideas for household appliances. The Design Lab 2012 jury, comprising Design Director at Electrolux Thomas Johansson, award winning chef Davide Oldani, distinguished designer Dante Donegani and popular design blogger Kelly Beall, selected the winner from ten global finalists.

The second prize in the competition went to Ben de la Roche from New Zealand. His design concept is a refrigerated wall that allows the user to press storage containers and bottles directly into the wall. Impress uses thermo-acoustic technology and gases such as argon and helium that are non-ozone depleting and harmless to the environment. The jury’s motivation was: “Impress is a visual experience that is energy saving and simplifies the user’s life.” Third prize went to Tastee by Christopher Holm-Hansen, from Denmark. His design concept is a taste indicator, in the form of a spoon, that utilises receptors based on the human taste bud to tell you what ingredients you need to improve your cooking. The jury’s motivation was: “Tastee is a tool that offers guidance for your palate in order to bring out the chef that is inside of you.” People’s Choice Award went to Tastee after receiving over 1000 unique votes on Facebook.

About Electrolux Design Lab
Established in 2003, Electrolux Design Lab is an annual global design competition open to undergraduate and graduate design students world-wide. This year, Design Lab is celebrating ten years of encouraging and facilitating young designers in the pursuit of modern, innovative home appliance design. “Creating new value and propositions is what innovative design is all about. Electrolux is committed to innovation in design, research and development and Design Lab is one way of exploring new arising ideas. In addition the Design Lab competition is a chance for us to meet the design talent of tomorrow”, said Stefano Marzano, Chief Design Officer at Electrolux.

Theme of the year, Design Experience
Electrolux Design Lab 2012 challenged design students to draw inspiration from professional experience creators such as chefs, architects, interior designers and hotel designers to design future home appliances that will provide a fuller sensory experience. The brief for 2012 was looking for concepts that best reflect

Electrolux’s proud heritage of Scandinavian Design whilst working to create new home appliances that stimulate, engage and enlighten all of our senses. The jury considered entries based on intuitive design, innovation and consumer insight.

First step towards a design career

One of the purposes of the competition is to function as an innovative arena for the introduction of new talents and products to the market. First prize is 5,000 euros and a six-month paid internship at an Electrolux global design center. Second prize is 3,000 euros and third prize of 2,000 euros.

Date: 2015-12-17; view: 1103