Tag Archives: iF Design Award 2021

8 Magnificent Architecture and Urban-Space Designs from the iF Design Award global community

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The iF Design Award has been consistently hand-picking the best, most innovative designs since 1953, honoring top-class achievements in categories spanning Product Design, Transportation Design, Communication Design, Packaging, Service Design, Architecture, Interior Architecture, Professional Concepts, and UI and UX for 67 years in a row. The entire iF Design Award program saw as many as 10,000 submissions this year, which were evaluated by 98 international design experts from 21 countries, on the iF Jury.

Just this year alone, 1,744 designs received the iF Design Award for their creative accomplishments across various categories, while an additional 75 designs went on to win the highly-coveted iF gold award for their outstanding work. The iF Design Award always culminates in a grand ceremony in Berlin, although owing to the pandemic and global travel restrictions, award-winning products and projects this year are being celebrated digitally with an international content campaign encapsulated by the slogan “The CreatiFe Power of Design” in cooperation with popular design platforms and seven renowned design museums.

Over the course of the next few months, Yanko Design will be curating and featuring winning designs from this year’s program too – we’ve hand-picked eight award-winning designs from the ‘Architecture and Urban Spaces’ category below (the list even features TWO iF Gold Award winners)! All the iF Design Award winners can also be viewed on the newly-launched iF Design App that gives you access to a grand database of award-winning design projects and their creators, right at your fingertips!

To view all these designs and many more, visit the website of the iF DESIGN AWARD.

Click Here to download the brand new iF Design App – a new experience in discovering outstanding designs

Award-Winning Architecture and Urban-Space Designs from the iF Design Award 2021

OSOL Art Pavilion by SOAP Design Studio for Gyeonggi Cultural Foundation (iF Gold Award Winner)

The OSOL Pavilion is a symbol of renewed beginnings and of friendship, as it stands at a place that was once littered with military fences. Built on the west coast of South Korea, the permanent exhibit marks the relaxing of military tension between North and South Korea, and sits among a forest of pine-trees facing the tranquil Yellow Sea. Inspired by the reflection of light on the sea, OSOL, the pine forest-like structure made from anodized aluminum, reflects the surrounding colors and allows visitors to gain a new perspective on the relationship between man and nature, encouraging them to develop a deeper appreciation of nature.

Traits Video Sketching App by Wolf In Motion (iF Gold Award Winner)

A sketching app with a difference, Traits lets you build architectural plans directly by drawing on videos. Paired along with drone footage, it’s the ultimate architecture and urban planning tool, providing a simple and inclusive way to plan out buildings without being too intrusive and requiring expensive filming crews and design-visualization teams. The app performs complex object tracking and lets you draw literally in a point in space, allowing you to easily make architectural plans and sketches directly onto video footage of the land, for quicker decision-taking.

Seoul Botanic Park by Samoo Architects & Engineers, and THE_SYSTEM LAB

Seoul Botanic Park was built in Magok, on the southwestern side of the Han River in Seoul, to create an urban public space that can introduce flora and cultures of 12 global cities and enhance ecological sensitivity. While most greenhouses come with a geodesic dome-shaped design, the Seoul Botanic Park flips this notion with its uniquely recognizable 100m wide concave roof. The rim of the greenhouse is higher than its center, giving it the resemblance of a flower – a feature that’s further highlighted by the petal-shaped pillars around the outer edge of the park.

The Future Of Us Pavilion by Thomas Schroepfer – Advanced Architecture Laboratory SUTD

The inspiration for The Future Of Us Pavilion was the visually beautiful experience of walking under the foliage of lush trees in the tropics. This idea was translated into a design with a clear mathematical logic that was determined by extensive environmental simulations and structural optimizations, resulting in an artificial canopy that still felt natural as you walked underneath it. Light filtered through the canopy’s perforated design – a phenomenon the Japanese call Komorebi – and as the canopy cut out a major chunk of sunlight, the area underneath was naturally cooled by the shade. Located in Gardens by the Bay Singapore, The Future Of Us Pavilion (also known as the Bayfront Pavilion) follows the tradition of architectural structures that evoke a dialogue with nature by blending an intricate form made of a perforated skin fluidly with the adjacent environments. For visitors, the building offers a climatically comfortable outdoor environment and a visual experience akin to walking under the foliage of lush tropical trees.

A House by Clearspace Design & Research

Adopting the rather traditional-looking A-Frame format, the simply named ‘A House’ is a combination of old but new and technical but naturally green. The building’s brick exterior is punctuated by transparent glass ‘curtains’ that not only give the exterior a uniquely memorable look, but even help illuminate the house’s interiors too. Although it’s titled ‘A House’, the building actually serves as a workplace, offering a close relationship between people and the natural environment. The designers also mention that it was refurbished following the 3Rs: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle.

Cloister of Green Light by CYS.ADSO for Newland Developers Group

At this sales center, visitors can quietly experience the environment with their own senses instead of through text or speech. The amoeba-shaped building weaves through trees, coexisting with the flora without influencing or disturbing it. In order to achieve this, the designers thought of breaking the singular building mass into smaller scattered building units. These units are arranged randomly like satellites around the original trees, connected by the winding cloister and encircling the old tree at the center of the site.

V-Plaza by 3deluxe architecture for SBA Group

Yet another example of organic architectural design, the V-Plaza is a visionary plaza that is a celebration of contemporary mobility. Cyclists and scooters cruise along organically curved levels, between them oases of tranquility, water features, cafes, and restaurants. This hybrid of a skatepark, playground, and urban living room provides the perfect congregating point for the young, dynamic public of Lithuania.

DISC (Descente Innovation Studio Complex) by cre-te

Designed to be a sports R&D lab, the circular shape of the building is a reference to the circular tracks that runners dash around. It’s also characterized by an artificial hill in the form of a spiraling lawn that surrounds the building, creating a rather unusual blend of greenery and architecture. “Through this winding artificial hill, DISC achieves harmony with the urban context while maintaining an eco-friendly design”, mention the designers. The building’s design draws the viewers’ eyes to its center, which exists almost like a crater. Within this center is the building’s courtyard, its green heart, an open space for creative communication.

To view all these designs and many more, visit the website of the iF DESIGN AWARD.

Award-winning e-unicycle attaches to any analog wheelchair, turning it into an electric vehicle

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Designed to upgrade the wheelchair into a makeshift electric trike, the UNAwheel clamps onto the front of a traditional wheelchair, allowing the occupant to ride around like a kart. The purpose of the design is to “help overcome some of the main mobility challenges faced by people with disabilities”, say the designers. It comes with an adjustable handlebar and a replaceable rechargeable battery pack, and can quickly be attached to and detached from the wheelchair.

The way it works is simply by hooking onto an existing wheelchair and pulling it along, the way a horse pulls a chariot. It attaches to the wheelchair so that you don’t need to worry about holding onto it, and the handlebar system lets you accelerate, decelerate, and even take turns. Buttons near the handlebars even let you choose whether you want to travel forward or in reverse, and a horn lets you conveniently alert people ahead of your presence… although given its setup and target audience, I doubt the UNAwheel really travels at dangerous speeds. It’s perfect for people who can’t maneuver wheelchairs, or have to deal with terrain and uphill commutes. When you don’t need it, the UNA wheel simply detaches from the wheelchair, turning it into a hand-operated vehicle once again.

The UNAwheel is a winner of the iF Design Award for the year 2021.

Designer: ART UP Studio for SupremeMotors

The world’s first shock-absorbing unicycle aims at radically reinventing last-mile transportation

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Meet the ELectric Unicycle V11 – the world’s first shock-absorbing unicycle! Its rather unusual design gives you something that’s as adrenaline-rushing as a skateboard, with the smooth ride comfort of a motorcycle, and the overall riding demeanor of a hoverboard. A winner of this year’s iF Design Award, the ELectric Unicycle V11 sports a handle on top, making it easy to carry around wherever you go, and pop-out footrests that allow it to go from a handheld device to an electric mode of transport.

Designed for fun short trips and last-mile commutes, the ELectric Unicycle V11 is compact and flexible, with two modes of riding – a comfort mode, and a classic mode. The vehicle, much like a hoverboard or a Segway, intelligently detects body movements and shifts in your CG to control balance, direction, and acceleration. Air pressure damping alleviates the shock caused by rough terrain, making riding more comfortable and casual. Heck, it even comes with a motorbike-grade headlight and a taillight to make it legit enough to drive/ride on roads!

The ELectric Unicycle V11 is a winner of the iF Design Award for the year 2021.

Designer: Inmotion Technologies Co., Ltd.

8 of the most thrilling Automotive Designs from the iF Design Award global design community

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The iF Design Award has been consistently hand-picking the best, most innovative designs since 1953, honoring top-class achievements in categories spanning Product Design, Transportation Design, Communication Design, Packaging, Service Design, Architecture, Interior Architecture, Professional Concepts, and UI and UX for 67 years in a row. The entire iF Design Award program saw as many as 10,000 submissions this year, which were evaluated by 98 international design experts from 21 countries, on the iF Jury.

Just this year alone, 1,744 designs received the iF Design Award for their creative accomplishments across various categories, while an additional 75 designs went on to win the highly-coveted iF gold award for their outstanding work. The iF Design Award always culminates in a grand ceremony in Berlin, although owing to the pandemic and global travel restrictions, award-winning products and projects this year are being celebrated digitally with an international content campaign encapsulated by the slogan “The CreatiFe Power of Design” in cooperation with popular design platforms and seven renowned design museums.

Over the course of the next few months, Yanko Design will be curating and featuring winning designs from this year’s program too – we’ve hand-picked eight award-winning designs from the ‘Automotive and Transportation’ category below! All the iF Design Award winners can also be viewed on the newly-launched iF Design App that gives you access to a grand database of award-winning design projects and their creators, right at your fingertips!

To view all these designs and many more, visit the website of the iF DESIGN AWARD.

Click Here to download the brand new iF Design App – a new experience in discovering outstanding designs

Award-Winning Bicycles & Travel-gear from the iF Design Award 2021

ELectric Unicycle V11 by Inmotion Technologies Co., Ltd.

Meet the ELectric Unicycle V11 – the world’s first shock-absorbing unicycle! Its rather radical design gives you something that’s as adrenaline-rushing as a skateboard, with the smooth ride comfort of a motorcycle. Designed for fun short trips and last-mile commutes, the ELectric Unicycle V11 is compact and flexible, with two modes of riding – a comfort mode, and a classic mode. Heck, it even comes with a motorbike-grade headlight and a taillight to make it legit enough to drive/ride on roads!

BMW Concept i4 by BMW Group

The BMW i4 is the brand’s first electric vehicle focused squarely on the dynamic flair of the driving experience. The perfectly resolved Gran Coupe proportions create an authentic, modern, and confident appearance. The car comes with its signature kidney grilles – they’re an iconic part of BMW’s form language, even though the i4 is powered by an electric drivetrain. Slated for a 2022 release, the i4 is all about electric luxury, from that beautiful satin-gold paint job to even the car’s rims, which have been designed exclusively for the BMW Concept i4 and blend aerodynamic and lightweight design.

Pendel-Stehsitz für Schienenfahrzeuge (Pendulum Seats) by Siemens AG

The Pendel-Stehsitz or Pendulum Seats, are a crazy redesign of the kind of seats you’d see on public transport. Designed for short train/subway/metro rides, they come in a rather unique compact avatar that allows them to open in either orientation, facing front or back. The modular and multifunctional seat concepts for local trains come with a pivoting backrest on top, and a bolster-shaped cylindrical seat at the bottom. The seat orientation is controlled by the train’s driver, who can easily orient the seats to face in any direction based on which way the train’s traveling. During rush hours, the seats can stay shut too, to create more space for people to stand. Designed by Siemens, the Pendel-Stehsitz is patented for being the first electronically controlled seating solution.

5th Generation Waymo Driver by Waymo

A subsidiary of Alphabet, Waymo is leading the charge on autonomous automobiles. You see, humans are great drivers, but they can get distracted, sleepy, drunk, or just simply stressed… unlike an autonomous machine that’s always performing at its very best. The Waymo Driver’s latest hardware suite includes three sensing technologies (lidar, cameras, and radar), and features 360-degree vision, with cameras that can see up to 500 meters away. The result is a highly capable and safe driver that can power multiple vehicle platforms, from SUVs to class 8 trucks, across various use cases, including ride-hailing and goods delivery.

UNAwheel Maxi by ART UP Studio for SupremeMotors

Designed to turn the wheelchair into a makeshift electric trike, the UNAwheel clamps onto the front of a traditional wheelchair, allowing the occupant to ride around like a kart. The purpose of the design is to “help overcome some of the main mobility challenges faced by people with disabilities”, say the designers. It comes with an adjustable handlebar and a replaceable rechargeable battery pack, and can quickly be attached to and detached from the wheelchair.

Ferrari Roma by Ferrari S.p.A.

Created by the Ferrari Design Centre in Maranello, the Ferrari Roma features harmonious proportions, clean/symbiotic forms, and elegantly balanced volumes which fall wonderfully in line with Ferrari’s front-engined grand touring tradition. Timeless and sublimely refined, the Ferrari Roma’s signature Italian styling is a contemporary reinterpretation of the carefree lifestyle of the 1950s and ‘60s Rome, after which the concept is named.

Ferrari SF90 Spider by Ferrari S.p.A.

The SF90 Spider, like the Roma, comes from the Ferrari Design Centre, headed by Flavio Manzoni. The Spider (or convertible) version of the SF90 was revealed at a digital event, armed with a hybrid powertrain and a retractable hardtop (RHT) that not only gives you the thrill of an open-air ride, but also ensures speed, aerodynamism, and noise-insulation when closed. The new convertible has the same extreme supercar specification and record-breaking performance as the SF90 Stradale yet also adds further driving pleasure and versatility to the mix, thanks to the latest iteration of Ferrari’s signature retractable hardtop architecture.

Eli ZERO by Eli Electric Vehicles

Eli reimagines the personal vehicles of the future by creating compact, efficient, clean, and affordable micro-EVs. The first in Eli’s line of automobiles, the Eli ZERO is half the cost, half the size, and 3–10 times more energy-efficient than conventional compact cars. In fact, its makers even go so far as to call it the “iPad of Cars”, comparing cars to laptop, while positioning the Eli ZERO as something that’s just as advanced and capable, in a ridiculously compact form factor! “It communicates a new vision of mobility and urban lifestyle that is friendlier, more engaging, less intrusive, and more sustainable”, say the designers at the LA-based Eli Electric Vehicles.

To view all these designs and many more, visit the website of the iF DESIGN AWARD.

7 Award-Winning bicycles and travel-gear from iF Design Award’s global design community

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The iF Design Award has been consistently hand-picking the best, most innovative designs since 1953, honoring top-class achievements in categories spanning Product Design, Communication Design, Packaging, Service Design, Architecture, Interior Architecture, and UI and UX for 67 years in a row. The entire iF Design Award program saw as many as 10,000 submissions this year, which were evaluated by 98 international design experts from 21 countries, on the iF Jury.

Just this year alone, 1,744 designs received the iF Design Award for their creative accomplishments across various categories, while an additional 75 designs went on to win the highly-coveted iF gold award for their outstanding work. The iF Design Award always culminates in a grand ceremony in Berlin, although owing to the pandemic and global travel restrictions, award-winning products and projects this year are being celebrated digitally with an international content campaign encapsulated by the slogan “The CreatiFe Power of Design” in cooperation with renowned design platforms and seven renowned design museums.

Over the course of the next few months, Yanko Design will be curating and featuring winning designs from this year’s program too – we’ve hand-picked seven award-winning designs from the Bicycling category below! All the iF Design Award winners can also be viewed on the newly-launched iF Design App that gives you access to a grand database of award-winning design projects and their creators, right at your fingertips!

To view all these designs and many more, visit the website of the iF DESIGN AWARD.

Click Here to download the brand new iF Design App – a new experience in discovering outstanding designs

Award-Winning Bicycles and Travel-gear from the iF Design Award 2021

Halfway Folding Bicycle by Giant Co. Ltd. (iF gold award Winner)

The iF gold award-winning Halfway bicycle solves every commuter’s biggest headache – carrying their cycle on public transit or into buildings. Its unique folding mechanism allows the entire bicycle to pack up into a hand-pulled strolley that you can easily wheel around with you. The bicycle even comes with its own front-basket for storing your bag while cycling, and caster-wheels on the basket allow the cycle to be rolled around when completely folded! “The term Halfway refers to the folding system of the bicycle – utilizing a single-sided fork and chain-stay which equates to a more compact enclosure size. The auto-lock system provides fewer steps for folding and introduces a new level of safety while riding”, mentions the Chinese design studio and creator behind the Halfway, Giant Co. Ltd.

Litelok Go Flexi-U by Prof. Neil Barron for LITELOK

Litelok Go Flexi-U is the world’s first insurance-rated, flexible U-lock for bikes. Unlike conventional U-locks that come with a rigid design, the Go Flexi-U sports a flexible design that can easily wrap around poles, fences, and other objects. It matches the strength and durability of traditional U-locks while being incredibly lightweight (641 grams). Moreover, it easily straps to your bike’s frame, making it rather easy to carry around with you as you ride!

Gmigo One by Baron Design Studio and Tianjin Jidian Road Technology Co. Ltd.

Designed to be a smart, modular scooter for urban commuting, the Gmigo One comes with a shape-shifting design that allows you to alternate between sitting and standing scooter designs just by plugging in different modules into the scooter’s unique frontal frame. The minimal design and Stormtrooper color-way forms a perfect foreground against the urban backdrop, and the small wheels are perfect for in-city commute. The scooter’s easily detachable hub makes the folded volume smaller and easy to store, and the magnesium alloy die-cast body helps dramatically reduce the scooter’s overall weight.

Canyon Fix 3-in-1 Minitool by Canyon Bicycles

Don’t let its unseemingly tiny design fool you, Canyon’s Fix 3-in-1 tool houses a veritable bicycle-fixing tool-shop in a compact yet extremely versatile form factor. Combining 3 tools into 1 small, light mini-tool, it features a ratchet with 4 double-sided bits, a Dynaplug® tool to fix punctures on tubeless tires, and a CO2 inflator to pump up flats. With a CNC-milled aluminum body, it weighs just 45g yet can deliver up to 30 Nm of torque, helping you pull apart your cycle and fix it together with no fuss. Plus, it’s about the size of your finger, so you can easily stash it anywhere while riding.

Canyon Speedmax by Artefakt Design for Canyon Bicycles

From the makers of the 3-in-1 minitool also comes the Speedmax, an incredibly capable bike designed to dominate triathlons. By providing more configuration options, optimized aerodynamics, even more innovative integration solutions, and storage spaces with a more streamlined design, the bike was built to give the triathlete every possible performance advantage. Canyon also worked hand-in-hand with Artefakt, a German-based design studio that played an instrumental role in developing the Speedmax series ever since its debut in 2010.

Thule RoundTrip Bike Duffel by Thule Group

Designed by the popular Swiss-based outdoor and transportation gear company, the Thule RoundTrip Bike Duffel is nothing short of a bike-gear-locker that you can carry with you. Designed on the format of popular camera-gear bags, the RoundTrip Bike Duffel comes purpose-built for dedicated cyclists, with a structured, organized interior that provides dedicated storage spaces for clothes, accessories, and EDC. Designed with individual cell pockets, tarpaulin-lined zippered pockets and a toolbox structure to easily see and access items, the Thule RoundTrip Bike Duffel is the perfect travel companion as you’re cycling, allowing you to easily access clothes, bike-repairing gear, or even your camera equipment when you’re outdoors!

FORE_Bicycle by GK Kyoto Inc. and GK Design Soken Hiroshima Inc.

Envisioned as a bicycle that’s designed for everyone, the FORE_Bicycle takes on the format of a scooter, with a minimal U-shaped frame that lets even women ride it while wearing skirts. The bike comes with a nude silver aesthetic that feels natural and allows it to easily blend into environments and boasts of a unique chainless format that makes it easier to maintain. The chainless design also eliminates the stress of getting grease on your clothes, or worse, getting your clothes caught in the chainlinks. By adopting this new foolproof format, the FORE_Bicycle improves the cycling experience, making it safer and much more hassle-free for everyone who rides it!

To view all these designs and many more, visit the website of the iF DESIGN AWARD.

The 2021 iF Design Talent Award Winners are helping solve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals

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Until the Nobel Committee declares a Nobel Prize for design, the iF Design Award will always be regarded as the highest design accolade in the industry. Touted as one of the oldest design institutions, the iF Design Award has been an annual tradition ever since 1953, and this year, its Design Talent Award alone saw 5,300 concept submissions from as many as 49 nations in just the first round. The one thing uniting these concept submissions were their aim at solving the world’s largest problems and serving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations – ranging from ending poverty to combating socio-economic inequalities and reversing climate change.

Judging these designs are iF DESIGN TALENT AWARD’s esteemed jury panel, comprising 43 design experts from 13 nations and across different wakes of life. It was up to the judges to choose 86 concept designs that best exemplify the award’s brief and ethos – 6 of which would go on to win a total prize amount of EUR 25,000 for their outstanding work and contribution to the world. Scroll down to view the 6 award-winning concepts below. You can even use them as inspiration for your own ideas, because the 2nd round of the iF DESIGN TALENT AWARD 2021 hast just commenced! Registrations are free of charge and welcome until July 14th, 2021.

Explore all 86 award-winning concepts in the iF DESIGN TALENT AWARD 2021

And don’t miss to download the brand new iF Design App—a new experience in discovering outstanding designs

Elves Camping Accessories by Qing Yan

By massively upgrading the camping experience, Elves makes the outdoors just as comfortable and enjoyable as relaxing indoors. The camping accessories boast of a minimal yet functional design that borders on the sleek appeal of glamping, while still being energy efficient and having a minimal carbon footprint. At the very heart of the design is the innovative fireplace that runs on solar energy and emits thermal energy without a flame. It’s perfect for cooking food on as well as for roasting marshmallows, and the legs of the fireplace even come with integrated lamps to illuminate your campsite, giving you an experience that feels familiar, yet is radically different and better!

Fireproof Ecological Vertical Tower by Han-Yu Lai

This tower aims at providing a protective haven to animals and humans during a forest fire. The uniquely alluring tower both resists fire while creating an area of safety and protection. The tower, designed to be built within the forest itself, has an outer fire-retardant layer that keeps the flames at bay. The inside of the tower, however, helps fend off the fire’s high temperatures by using water stored via rainwater harvesting. “The rainwater collected in the rainy season is used to block heat radiation. When a fire occurs, animals can hide inside. It also increases the rescue time for humans”, says Taiwan-based designer Han-Yu Lai.

Jumpforlight by Yantao Chen, Chen Zhang and Yubin Zhong

Jumpforlight is an engaging, innovative solution that uses a fun activity to facilitate electricity generation. Designed for areas that have little access to stable electricity, this innovative jump rope converts kinetic energy into electrical energy that can power a tiny LED light for a few hours. The jump rope has a mini turbine on the inside that converts the rope’s flipping action into electrical power – and in turn, converts the fun and healthy act of jumping or skipping into something much more fruitful, as the children can then use the light to study after dark.

Mind without borders by Fang-Ping Hsu, Lai Chien-Chen

Designed to keep children connected and to expand their social circle during pandemics, Mind Without Borders is an app that facilitates anonymous connections for children in various countries, offering health tracking, communication with family and friends, and connections with psychotherapists to help them navigate difficult situations. By shifting the caregiving and caretaking process to a virtual medium, the app helps ease the burden on the healthcare system while allowing children to stay social as well as stay healthy.

Time To Eat by The Oslo School of Architecture

Time to Eat is a holistic vision for the Norwegian school of 2030. Offering an absolutely new approach to education and socializing through perhaps one of the most enjoyable experiences of school, lunchtime, the Time To Eat app imagines a restructuring of the school and education system. The app helps act as a dashboard for the school routine while also using lunchtime as a valuable learning experience – school-kids are taught recipes, how to grow vegetables, and about various aspects of the food cycle, eventually facilitating a more sustainable and inclusive awareness of food. The jury highlighted how the Time To Eat app especially helped “bring together the sustainable social, economic, environmental aspects of food.”

Umbrella Badge by Hu Die, Huang Baiqi, Chen Yuling, Wei Peng

An insightful and innovative take on child abuse, the Umbrella Badge straps a smart-microphone to children in the attempt to detect and prevent abuse. Research shows that many abusers verbally abuse their victims before committing a crime – to that end, the Umbrella Badge sits on the lapel of the child and instantly picks up on any abuses, hate speech, or even elevated, angry voices. If the badge detects sensitive or keywords, it can then alert passers-by or even alert the child to possible danger to help save them. Along with these triggers, the badge automatically sends the child’s location to the designated contact.

Click here and explore all 86 award-winning concepts in the iF DESIGN TALENT AWARD 2021_01

And don’t miss to download the brand new iF Design App—a new experience in discovering outstanding designs

This sleek bookshelf-inspired air purifier finds an ingenious solution to our filter replacement problems!

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COVID-19 has pretty much sealed all of us in our homes, and our attention is completely focused on maintaining a safe and clean environment inside our home. Air purifiers are now an essential appliance seen in almost every home. As the quality of air in our homes can greatly impact our lungs and respiratory system, and with the COVID-19 virus directly attacking our lungs, we need to ensure that the air we breathe is clean, breathable, and safe. And this is where air purifiers faithfully play their part! One air purifier that really caught my eye is the Bookstyle Air Purifier by Winiadimchae.

The Bookstyle Air Purifier is to purifiers as the IKEA x SONOS unveiling is to home speaker systems – it is a design made to merge with your home rather than stand out in it, creating an uninterrupted experience. The South Korean company created an air purifier whose filters not only look like books but have to be borrowed like a library book! The concept basically revolves around subscribing to a filter replacement system, wherein you receive the filter via a non-contact delivery system. We often need a variety of different filters to take care of our various air purifying needs. We may need a HEPA filter, or a filter for aroma, or even a filter that specifically caters to homes with babies. The diverse range of filters is stored in a large inventory at the logistic center, much like a large collection of books at a library! When the need for a filter replacement arrives, you place an order, and a filter is efficiently delivered to you, without any contact. The filter is even packaged like a book! The book-inspired filters can be slide and plugged into the air purifier as you would slide a book into a bookshelf. Up to 4 filters can easily fit into the air purifier, making it look like a wall-mounted bookshelf filled with books!

The Bookstyle Air Purifier is really an interesting innovation! It takes an ordinary air purifier and turns it into a product that can effortlessly merge with our home. Even the purifiers can be replaced and stored conveniently. And not to mention anyone who loves books, would love to add this book-inspired design to their home!

Designer: Winiadimchae

This 3-in-1 kitchen appliance with voice assistance is the butler you need!

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The kitchen is one of the most important sections of any home, and for me, growing up in a small house, the kitchen was almost sacred. It’s the first place in the day where everyone began their mornings, and in every big family gathering, everyone would eventually end up chatting in the kitchen. This A’ Design winner lets you upgrade your existing kitchen without the requirement of an expansive space or the limitation of existing elements in your kitchen. The Open Suite Cooker Hood by Fabrizio Crisa for Elica is designed to keep in mind modern styling requirements and, most of all, modularity to bring out the most in everyday practical usage.

The Open Suite merges a hood, a large LED light panel, modular shelving units along with a voice assistant integration that provides feedback on filter maintenance and overall system management. The unit is tailored for all your modern needs – the modular structure of the hood brings flexibility in how you actually want to set up the function and complement it with the visual appeal. This freedom comes courtesy of the 80 cm/160 cm modules that join in endless configurations depending on the user’s requirements and personal taste. The lower front section of the hob houses a large LED light panel (with color toggle and intensity adjustment) for illuminating the area while cooking. So, whatever the mood you’re in, Open Suite can create the right ambient environment for enjoyable cooking sessions. The designer explains, “A monolithic structure, in which the functions of air and light become complementary: in the lower front side of the hob there is, in fact, a large LED light panel. The panel acts as a strategic light point during food preparation, to be also used as ambient light for the most convivial moments. You can adapt the intensity and color of the LEDs, from cold white to warmer tones, to create the perfect atmosphere. Thanks to the double suction unit and the special Long Life filters (which can be regenerated in the oven for 3 years), Open Suite has been designed to guarantee maximum performance in the filter version and maximum freedom of movement in the kitchen.”

All the functions for interaction with the cooker hood come in ergonomic controls on the front. For those who are used to voice assistants, the kitchen appliance comes with Alexa, Google Home, and the in-built Elica app support. For easy filter maintenance, the appliance comes with the convenience of automated tips to keep the hood at its best for years to come – just like a butler who takes care of the smaller things in life to keep the kitchen running smoothly! The intuitive design to bring modular kitchen shelves and cooker hood into one is worth appreciating and something that budding home chefs will want to own right away!

Designer: Fabrizio Crisa for Elica