Electrolux Design Lab Competition

Each year Electrolux challenges design students all over the world to create a concept that is relevant to the time and raises questions about what design will be like in the future. Established in 2003, Electrolux Design Lab is a global design competition that is focused around themes such as healthy eating, sustainable living and internet generation. This year’s theme calls for Creating Healthy Homes under three focus areas; Culinary Enjoyment, Fabric Care and Air Purifying.

Electrolux awards four prizes: 1st place is 5,000 Euros and a 6-month paid internship at an Electrolux global design center. A 2nd prize of 3,000 Euros, 3rd prize of 2,000 Euros and People’s Choice prize for 1,000 Euros are also on offer.

The competition received over 1,700 submissions from over 60 countries is now entering the second stage of the competition with 70 submissions moving forward. At this stage, contestants are asked to deliver rendered CAD-files of their concepts with a logo, contextual images and design details.

Starting tomorrow through June 28, the public can vote online for their favorite concept. The three most popular submissions in the public voting will make it directly to the next round.

You may vote for one concept only once, but you can vote for different concepts so it is ok to support more than one contestant and idea.

Explore Concepts

Tree of Life

Replacing the refrigerator, oven, dishwasher, and even the cook, the Tree of Life (TOL) is the brainchild of Bulgarian designer Zahari Ganchev.

Based on the shapes of a Beobab tree and a Ganoderma lucidum mushroom, the biomorphic Tree of Life stores your food in its trunk and cooks meals on its mushroom caps. Individual ingredients are drawn from their refrigerated, organic polymer pouches when you order up a dish. Lasers (lasers!) cut and clean the food before the appliance deposits them on ceramic-coated stainless steel plates and cooks them for you. Your nutritional intake is monitored every meal, and replacing your plate tells the cooking lasers (more lasers!) to clean it for you.

Halo Fuse

The Halo Fuse is a rotating induction cooktop with the freedom of cooking anywhere on the surface and is designed to be located on an island work surface. This concept was submitted by Ryan Gardner, a senior industrial design student at Kendall College of Art and Design.

Special pans with detachable handles are used with this concept so large meals with multiple pans can be easily accommodated. Temperature settings are selected through sliding electronic controls within the pot handle. The pans synch with the cooking surface so if you need to reposition it the same settings are kept.

Fortunately, there is also a touch screen interface located to the side of the cooktop to show the location and setting of each pan. This could be very handy for multiple chefs.

PureTowel

Intended for bathroom use, the PureTowel replaces your standard towel hook with a Smart Hanger that can disinfect your towel in seconds with UV light. This clever concept comes from Leobardo Armenta, a 3rd year Industrial design student at Universidad Autonoma de Ciudad Juarez in Mexico.

Simply hang your used towel on the Smart Hanger and the vertical motion of the UV ring will start, leaving your towel dry and clean.

The towel is dried by a silent, high-speed fan located inside the ring and the UV light has sensors so human contact is avoided.

This concept is great for families concerned about allergies and passing germs that thrive on damp towels.

To explore the 35 entries and vote for our favorite, visit the Electrolux Design Lab site. Tell me which ones are your favorite.

April 10, 2014

SMEG Launches Stylish Small Appliances

Smeg, the family-owned Italian brand started by Vittorio Bertazzoni the elder in 1947 has branched out from its major appliances core into the world of small domestic appliances.

Faithful to the style of the company, Smeg’s new collection of small appliances harkens back to the era of the 50’s with stylish appeal.

Created by Matteo Bazzicalupo and Raffaella Mangiarotti of Milan-based design house deepdesign, the small appliance collection features curved lines, Smeg lettering, and comes in a palate of colors taken from the 1950’s.

There are two toasters, two kettles, a blender and a mixer. A coffee machine is in the pipeline. The range will be available in the vivid colours made famous by Smeg’s range of FAB fridges. There’s baby blue, understated pink, bright red, traditional black and white, and a stainless steel so redolent that it acts as a mirror.

“This is an exciting new avenue for Smeg, designed to meet the rising demand for our iconic Smeg retro-style designs. Now, you can now choose to complement your existing 50’s-style fridge freezer or washing machine with a matching kettle, toaster or small appliance. The products are inspired by colours, icons, objects and designs of the retro era and there are up to seven different colours available. Each shade will match with the Pantone color of existing Smeg appliances, for those who wish to co-ordinate. This new collection is also perfect for those who aspire to own a larger appliance, as they can still afford to join the artistic Smeg following with a stylish mixer or blender. ” –Mike Giddings, Managing Director

There are two toasters, two kettles, a blender and a mixer. A coffee machine is in the pipeline. Unlike Smeg’s ovens, refrigerators, dishwashers and hobs, this small appliance range is not and will not be manufactured in Italy. Due to the competitive business nature of small appliance manufacturing, the products will be assembled in China.

These new products are being shown at the Smeg booth (stand B15-B21 in FTK, Pavilion 11) in Milan at EuroCucina 2014 April 8th-13th.

To coincide with the small appliance launch, on April 7th Smeg launched their new retro-style website revised vivid graphics and content. A special area on the site has also been created for SMEGazine, which will contain periodically updated content devised to retain users and uncover some of the curiosities from around the Smeg world.

April 6, 2014

Miele Generation 6000

Even if the Miele Booth at EuroCucina 2014 didn’t have tempting aromas of gourmet food coming from two show kitchens, I still expect it to be a popular exhibit.

The company is set to unveil new design features offering the ultimate in appliance individuality. According to Gernot Trettenbrein, Managing Director of the Domestic Appliances International business unit, this bold move is a step away from “off-the-shelf products.”

Discerning lovers of fine kitchens are simply bound to be inspired by the new design features – such as M-touch controls, and out-of-the-ordinary materials now offered for customized manufacturing.

The spacious Milan exhibit will cover the two design lines PureLine and ContourLine as well as showcase the Obsidian Black, Brilliant White, Havana Brown and CleanSteel stainless steel finishes.

For the first time, Miele will be presenting the entire Miele Generation 6000 Collection. This Miele product launch is the result of five years of extensive product development and embodies the “Design for Life” philosophy – each appliance is tested to last 20 years.

All Miele appliances flawlessly complement one another in form, function and materials and elevate the culinary experience – employing unprecedented convenience, performance and elegance. Included in the ground-breaking line are newly designed ovens, speed ovens, steam ovens, combi-steam ovens, coffee systems, and gourmet warming drawers

Eurocucina 2014 will run from April 8 until April 13. The Miele booth (Hall 9, Booth A02/B03) is part of a special show called ‘Technology for the Kitchen’.

Miele was founded in 1899 and has 8 production plants in Germany and one plant each in Austria, the Czech Republic, China and Romania. thirds in Germany and is headquartered in Gütersloh/Westphalia, Germany.

With the single promise of Immer Besser or Forever Better, Miele is a premium appliance brand committed to the highest quality, performance and engineering.

February 24, 2014April 14, 2019

Grow at Home

Spring is starting to creep into everyone’s minds and with that the thought of fresh herbs and vegetables. While it is possible to sow your seeds with snow on the ground, many areas of the country are still too frozen with the harsh arctic blast and ten named winter storms.

Some gardeners use a cold frame, which is a box-like structure with a clear glass or plastic top, to get their seedlings started. However, if you don’t have the space or find it a little too dirty, there is another option – the Urban Cultivator.

The Urban Cultivator Residential is a dishwasher-sized appliance with interior grow lights. Inside are racks that hold flats designed to contain one of three growing mediums — a Sure to Grow mat (suretogrow.com), sterilized soil or landscape fabric. In these, users can grow 50-some greens — including beet-tops, baby broccoli, wheat grass, pea sprouts, radishes, mustard greens, lentils, nasturtiums — as well as any number of herbs.

The unit is not difficult to install and requires a water connection similar to a dishwasher. You can choose between different door screen options (clear, frost, half-tone and dark) and even add a custom panel to match your cabinetry.

The Urban Cultivator will allow you to grow fresh herbs 365 days a year and know that they are pesticide free and healthy for your family. The cost savings for growing your own micro-greens can be as high as 90% according to research.

Your Urban Cultivator can be operated between 55 and 90 degrees with a relative humidity between 30% to 60%. The automated system does all the work and provides measured water to and from each grow tray. If your unit is set up as a stand-alone unit, you will need to empty and refill the water reservoir once a week when the indicator light is on. Four humidity domes are also included with the unit to aid in starting seeds.

A larger commercial unit is also available for restaurants and cooking schools where larger supplies are demanded. Besides herbs, small vegetables such as cherry tomatoes can also be grown. Pricing starts at $2,200.

Category: Appliances