17 Award Winning Innovations for Your Home

by Adrian How

Some weeks ago, YinLeng sent me this link on realestate.msn.com titled ‘17 Award Winning Innovations for Your Home‘. No prizes for guessing what the article is about here. These innovative designs are winning designs in the International Housewares Association’s 2008 Student Design Competition.

It’s really a great read. Click here to access the article. From my observation, many of these winning designs often are, SIMPLE! I guess it’s normal human nature to overcomplicate and overdo things- even in daily work- to outdo a nemesis, competitor or colleague. Taking a step back is often a good idea to let you see the bigger picture… and many of these students have done just that- identifying the problem, breaking it down and providing the simplest solution which will more often than not also be the most elegant. In the grueling corporate environment that some of us are in, perhaps it’s useful to really take a step back every now and then to see the bigger picture to not lose focus on the end goal.

On the topic of innovation, my project team at work is currently engaged in developing an innovative application and we’re in the initial stages of patenting the application. It’d be an interesting episode to understand and experience the whole process of patenting a novel innovation. Can’t tell you what it is but really, we’ve developed something to change how certain processes have been done traditionally, by simplifying it tremendously! It may not be award winning but I’m certain it’ll provide great value for our clients.

These are some of my favourites from the 17 winning designs- one’s that just seem to shout out ‘keepin it simple!!!’.

Elizabowl - pockets that blossom when accomodating fruits. When a piece of fruit goes bad, it doesnt instantly affect it’s neighbours through chemical contact. Looks a great piece of industrial design for a fruitbowl too. Click here for more details on the innovation that won 1st place.

BIN - mop, vacuum, bin. Click here for more details.

One handed rolling pin. Click here for more details.

Level- cooler with flexible rotating handle which will always keep it level, never spilling a drop even when two people are carrying it up a steep incline or stairs. Something so simple it makes you wonder ‘why hasn’t anyone thought of this before?’. Well, that’s innovation for ya. Click here for more details.