For Electrolux Design Lab’s seventh edition, Electrolux invited undergraduate and graduate industrial design students to send in their home appliance ideas for the next 90 years, in honor of the Electrolux 90-year anniversary. The brief was to create thoughtfully-designed products that will shape how people prepare and store food, wash clothes, and do dishes over the next nine decades. This year over 900 entries were submitted from students in more 50 countries.
The top eight finalists have been announced and here they are, in random order:
1. Cocoon by Rickard Hederstierna, Lund Institute of Technology, Sweden
Intelligent food to save the planet
“Cocoon” is a sustainable response to the world’s growing population and its desire to consume meat and fish. Similar to heating popcorn in a microwave, Cocoon prepares genetically engineered and prepackaged meat and fish dishes by heating muscle cells identified by radio frequency identification (RFID) signals.The signals detect the specific dish and then suggest the required cooking time. This process uses science to create food, lifting a burden on the planet by reducing the need for further intensive farming and fishing. The negative effects of this process, including the mass transportation of food around the world, clearing of land and distortion of ecosystems, are then negated.
2. Le Petit Prince by Martin Miklica, Brno University of Technology, Czech Republic
One small step for robots, one giant leap for humankind
“Le Petit Prince” is a robotic greenhouse designed to facilitate the future exploration and population of Mars. Le Petit Prince takes care of a plant it carries inside its glass case, which is mounted on top of its four-legged pod. In search of nutrients to care for the plant, the robot is programmed to intuitively learn the optimal method for this process. It also reports its movements and progress to its fellow greenhouse robots via wireless communication so that they can learn from each other.
3. Moléculaire by Nico Kläber, Köln International School of Design, Germany
Print and eat your food
Nico Kläber takes the marriage of science and cooking to a new level with “Moléculaire”, the 3D molecular food printer. Moléculaire is influenced by chefs that scientifically and painstakingly experiment with food and food states to surprise and provoke fresh ideas in cooking. Kläber recognizes that this approach, as it currently exists, requires great skill, time and knowledge. The Moléculaire simplifies the process and acts as a computer numerical control (CNC) food printer for both professional and domestic kitchens. It autonomously prepares basic and otherwise difficult to create two and three dimensional parts of meals. It works with a layer by layer printing process using small particles from diverse ingredients. This provides simplicity, accuracy, repeatability and, of course, great tasting food!
4. Naturewash by Zhenpeng Li,Zhejiang University, China
Washing in the great outdoors
“Naturewash” is a waterless washing machine that uses negative ions to wash nano-coated fabrics. Horizontal in shape, the washing machine has three touch screen settings: clean clothes, grass scent and flower scent. A user can lie or sit on Naturewash to clean or refresh the clothes they are wearing. For a more thorough clean, clothes can be placed flat on the washer.
5. Renew by Louis Filosa, Purdue University, USA
Steam cleaning coming to a wall near you
“Renew” is a smart steamer that refreshes and cleans clothes. With two steam blades, Renew “blasts” garments clean. An infrared scanner and radio frequency identification (RFID) gather information about a garment from specifically designed clothing tags. Renew is safe to use and disables the steamer if an unidentified object is detected, such as a hand. An OLED touch screen allows the user to interact with Renew and learn about their clothing. At 25% the size of a current washing machine,Renew conserves space and is made of recycled aluminum and glass.
6. Teleport Fridge by Dulyawat Wongnawa, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand
Beam me up… Scottish ham
Dulyawat Wongnawa envisions a time when the technologies found in science fiction become reality, specifically teleportation. His concept, “Teleport Fridge”, teleports food, eliminating the time and distance a person has to travel to buy fresh groceries or products from a store or farm. Using touch-screen technology as the interface for the teleportation process, the Teleport Fridge simply teleports food to compartments in its refrigeration and freezer units.
7. Water Catcher by Penghao Shan, Zhejiang Sci-tech University, China
Flying in the rain
Penghao Shan has created a product that addresses water shortage. His solution is “Water Catcher”, a flying rain catcher and water purifier. This automated device dispatches small flying balls in the air to catch raindrops. After the raindrops are collected, the balls return to a homing tray that purifies the water for drinking. Once purified, the balls take the drinking water directly to a person to be drunk. The homing tray also reads fingerprints to determine what additives should be added to the water to ensure the drinker optimizes their health.
8. Bifoliate by Toma Brundzaite, Vilnius Academy of Art, Lithuania
Washing dishes is double the fun
Putting away clean dishes from the dishwasher is often a tedious job. That’s why Toma Brundzaite has designed “Bifoliate”, a space-saving, wall-mounted double dishwasher that allows the user to put dirty dishes in one compartment and use the other as a shelf for clean dishes. The dishwasher uses ultrasonic wave technology to clean, making it more efficient and eco-friendly than today’s dishwashers.
Below is a 4:40 minute video about the finalists:
The eight finalists will compete for the Electrolux Design Lab 2009 first prize of 5,000 Euro and a six-month paid internship at one of the Electrolux global design centers. The second prize is 3,000 Euro and third prize 2,000 Euro.
A jury of internationally-recognized designers will judge the entries and select a winner. The jury includes Nipa Doshi, furniture designer and co-founder of Doshi Levien design studio, David Fisher, Design Director of internationally renowned product design consultancy Seymourpowell, Marisol Manso Cortina, Manager of the Color Design Group at Nissan Design Europe, and Henrik Otto, Senior Vice President of Global Design at Electrolux.
The winner will be announced at the London Design Festival next month.
About Electrolux Design Lab:
Established in 2003, Electrolux Design Lab is an annual, global design competition open to undergraduate and graduate industrial design students who are invited to present innovative ideas for household appliances of the future. The competition has had different themes and culminates in a new city every year at an international press event.
All information and images from Electrolux. For more information visit www.electrolux.com/designlab.