Floe is a fully stocked home gym system that comes with everything from weight training accessories to virtual coaching features to bring the convenience of a private gym to the comfort of your living room.
The pandemic changed the at-home fitness game forever. Stuck at home during quarantine, fitness was at forefront of our minds. Without access to public or private gyms, our homes transformed into temporary fitness centers. Our living rooms, basements, and offices became multipurpose rooms filled with a mix of work desks, kettlebells, smart televisions, and yoga mats. Consolidating all of our fitness needs into a single product, Australian design group Blue Sky created Floe Fit, an at-home fitness system that has it all, including virtual coaching.
Recognized by Good Design for 2021’s Sport and Lifestyle category, Floe appears as a simple, backless bench, but hidden storage compartments reveal much more. Stocked with everything you might need in the gym, including a yoga mat, foam roller, kettlebell, and medicine ball, Floe even comes with a virtual coaching feature similar to the services found on Peloton. Equipped with an extendable viewing stand and iPad, Floe users can follow along with programmed workouts in the comfort of their own homes. From yoga to weight training, Floe offers it all and transforms back into an inconspicuous entryway bench once the sweat session ends.
Featuring hidden storage compartments and slide-out drawers, Floe looks like any other piece of furniture during the day, adapting nicely to any living room or office. Then, when the need for movement starts to itch, Floe instantly turns into your personal home gym, providing you with everything you might need for a good sweat. From virtual training to weight training accessories, Floe’s winning the at-home fitness game.
Hope you enjoyed my recap on the Good Design Awards 2018 here. Now it’s time to do a special countdown for you. Under the Chairmanship of Fumie Shibata and Vice Chair Seiichi Saito, the 2018 Good Design Awards saw about 4,789 entries and a total of 1,353 works were awarded. In this feature, YD picks its favorite 15 from the Good Design Best 100 list. It was a tough competition, and picked our 15 best!
Gogoro is a transportation network system where the Gogoro scooter uses rechargeable batteries. The city is dotted with the charging station hubs, and you simply have to go to them and replace your used batteries with a fully charged pair.
Hotel Hanare is in Yanaka, Tokyo and should not be mistaken for a regular hotel. The reception is located on the upper floor of the café, but the lodgings is in a separate part of the town. In many ways, the whole town serves as your hotel.
Bamboo Bicycle uses bamboo as the main frame of the cycle. The thought-process behind using this material, is to take advantage of its abundance in the local area.
Sony Aibo is a robotic AI-powered dog that hopes to revolutionize the adoption of AI technology at home. It hopes to influence the lifestyle of how people engage with AI at home.
Swans E-NOX Neuron eyewear is specialized in track and field usage, to help improve the performance of athletes.
Kamado-san Denki is an electric rice cooker with an earthenware pot made by Nagatani-en, and an electric shell for managing the cooking.
Bowls by Kai Corporation are designed to help you ‘beat’, ‘dress’ and ‘mix’ ingredients more efficiently. The rims of the bowl offer you a good grip, when you hold them.
With a very quirky tail, the Qoobo is a robotic pillow that has been designed to give a sense of comfort to its users. When you caress it, the tail waves gently, but when you rub the pillow, the tail swings playfully. Once-in-way, the tail wags randomly, just to say hello.
Convertible 2 in 1 Notebook PC – The HP Spectre is valued as premium in the PC market. Sporting a completely revolutionized design, and using innovative natural materials, this device is very easy to use.
Cooking Dishes by KaB DESIGN are versatile and can be put straight into the microwave, from the refrigerator. The dishes are your perfect companion for baking, storing and freezing food.
JIMNY / JIMNY SIERRA by Suzuki was launched in 1970 and has the reputation of offering high off-road stability. After two decades and an overhaul in design, this automobile is still at its peak performance.
The Red Ladybug is an off-road fire truck that has been designed as a multi-purpose first responder vehicle for disasters like earthquake, hurricane, thunderstorms, landslide, snowstorm, and volcanic eruptions.
The Rig Dog Xtreme Impact Glove protects professionals from hand injuries in heavy industries like oil & gas, construction & mining. The ergonomic, flexible glove features TPR (Thermo-plastic rubber) impact resist parts across hand & fingers.
City Service-car or The Gifted City is the social design project where designers and differently-abled people work together. Using art therapy as a medium, the designers create useful products with the differently-abled folks and retailing them.
Look for the 2019 Good Design Awards announcement, right here on Yanko Design.
It’s that time of the year, when I look back on the year gone by, and reflect on the many travels that I undertook, and what is the best that I got from to learn from them. The one that stands out the most, is my annual pilgrimage to Japan and the Good Design Awards, or G Mark. Founded in 1957, and in its 61st year, the sole purpose of the awards is to be an advocate of “good design”, and to enrich ‘life, industry and society as a whole.’ What I appreciate the most about the awards is that takes into account not only product design, industrial design and architecture, but also approaches and concepts towards better living and communities. While Product Design is also about solving a human need and making life better, some of the entries that are shortlisted for the 2018 G Mark, reflect community building by providing food boxes for the poor, better hospitality services by involving a whole village and many such examples.
Good Design Grand Award, Good Design Gold Award and Good Focus Award
Most people visit the Special Exhibition of the “Good Design Best 100″ and the pop-up shop showcasing award-winning products. However, my favorite part is the awarding ceremony, where in a very democratic way that the top prize is awarded. Tokens are distributed amongst the attendees and all get a chance to vote from the Top Six entries, the one Grand Prize.
Shortlisted for 2018 were: Sony Aibo, Gogoro Energy and Transportation Platform and Gogoro Scooter, Portable X-Ray by Fuji Film, Hotel Hanare, The landscape of Tokyo Marunouchi station square and Gyoko street area and Temple activities for solving poverty problems [Otera oyatsu club].
There was a tie between Gogoro Scooter and Temple activities for solving poverty problems, but the clear winner emerged at the second round of counting – Temple activities for solving poverty problems.
This award-winning program revolves around a group of Temple Priests, who collect the food items offered to the temple deity, and distribute it among the poor children of the community. It solves two things – distribution of the temple surplus and elimination of hunger.
When I spoke with Jury Member Gen Suzuki, I asked him this…
RS: Good Design focuses on public good, so Aibo may not stand a chance, what is your opinion on that?
GS: Aibo can be used to help old people and people with disabilities, so public good can be seen in projects like this. I don’t think high-tech products and public good are contradictory to each other, for example Sony Aibo robots can be used in elderly nursing homes. Maintaining a real pet can be an issue for the older generation, but Aibo is maintenance-free in that sense and can still provide similar aspects as real pets can.
RS: Your reaction to crowdfunding projects that win the Good Design, because Life Long Design Award is an important aspect for the Good Design Awards and hence, you will expect products to last for a longer time.
GS: We do see failures in design, but crowdfunding projects encourage young designers. And with G Mark, we can help identify the good products with our jury process and validate them. But we can’t be sure if they will be around thirty years from now. It is a chance we can take, and young designers who fail, can look at it as an opportunity to reflect on why they failed, and look for an alternative route to progress.
RS: What was your favorite product from this year?
GS: “Kamado-san Denki” an electric rice cooker that features an earthenware pot made by Nagatani-en. It is one of the most famous potteries in Japan. Kitchen appliances seem to be diversifying and this rice cooker is the perfect example of traditional earthenware married to high-tech – old fashion and high tech fusion.
My Favorites from the 2018 Good Design Awards Best 100 were Gogoro Scooter, Sony Aibo and Bamboo Bicycle
The Sony Aibo Team said that they are developing an intelligent product and hope to create a new lifestyle of living with a robot. The one issue they hope to solve, is teaching humans to communicate with AI and robotics with more compassion and love.
The current generation of Aibo is driven by an actuator (motor), and they would like to build a model that moves just like how the human muscles moves. This will give Aibo more mobility and the intelligence to move its arms and legs with artificial muscles. This make the Aibo more realistic and more humanized.
Bamboo Bicycle by Indonesian Singgih S Kartono hopes to solve the daily commute challenge with a bike that uses resources close to home – the bamboo. Collaborating with a bicycle manufacturer is a clever move as he is aware that he can’t match the competition alone. The next steps in evolution is a folding cycle and cycle for women.
As a designer or manufacturer, I see how you benefit by the recognition this prestigious award brings to you. But what I truly respect is the diversity of topics and initiatives that you can participate with.
Stay in touch for Part 2 of this series, where I showcase YD’s top 15 of the Best 100 Designs, and look for the 2019 Good Design Awards announcement, right here on Yanko Design.
