This year, I was fortunate enough to attend the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU)’s School of Design Annual show. The school recognized that design is no longer a “one-way street” and that the underlying theme for the show would be “Response”. This was chosen to emphasize communication and interaction in the making of good design. Here are some interesting design concepts I came across:
Satisfact10n Certificate Ii In Electrotechnology Studies by Amy Ling
Satisfact10n provides not only tips to make traditional Chinese cooking easy, but also the knowledge in its ingredients’ nutritional values. It is a platform where customers can exchange cooking tips and health knowledge. It aims at continuing the affinities carried in a traditional Chinese grocery store where the personal relationship between the shop owner and the customer is treasured.
Loner Lamp by Lai Cheuk Kee
The Loner Lamp is an interesting concept exploring themes of loneliness and companionship from the creative mind of Cheuk Kee. Where your typical lamp turns on when you switch it on, the Loner Lamp only lights up when you hold onto the handle. Once you put it down, it ceases to light up until someone else picks it up again.
CAP by Amos Woo and Sharon Ng
“CAP” is a pinhole camera which uses recycled paper to make its body and the skeleton. This project aims to remind people about the need to pay attention to the Earth’s resources. “We want people to be impressed with the possibility of paper molding by making a pinhole camera. We designed (the camera) to use the most simple mechanism in taking pictures,” say Amos and Sharon.
Adding to their eco-initiatives, the pinhole camera actually has another extension where a plastic bottle can be used as a tripod for long exposure photos. “We also designed a joint for the camera to adapt to plastic bottles selling on the market as a tripod for the long exposure of photos. This came from our own experiences as pinhole camera users. We believe this can really help users as they can have a tripod easily from the plastic bottle from their hand,” added Amos and Sharon.
Foldabox by Rachel Wan & Mandy Wong
Many people would prefer dining out, rather than bringing their own lunchbox to work as it may cause many troubles such as leakages of juice, bringing multiple bags, and time wasted in lining-up for the microwave oven. For these reasons, the FOLDABOX set was designed especially for office ladies, bringing them a warm, convenience and new eating style.
The Design Concept is as follows:
The FOLDABOX set includes an Induction Cooker and a foldable lunchbox. The IC cooker can solve the time wasting problem in lining- up for a microwave oven as users can use it to reheat the General Safety Awareness lunchbox at their own desk. With the special folding design, it can be folded such as a piece of paper is folded. Users can fold it to a smaller size storing inside their bags after use.
