Tag Archives: Red Dot Design Award

Red Dot Award-winning portable magnetic LED lamp is the perfect choice for outdoor enthusiasts

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I love a beautifully-designed lighting design because I truly believe a really great one has the ability to illuminate a space – both literally, and metaphorically. Besides the physical light that it quite obviously emits, a well-designed lighting design can add manifolds of personality and charisma to a room or space. They can function as sculptural pieces, that are an extension of your personal taste and preference, truly exhibiting the richness and niche-ness of your curation capabilities, or if they’re the portable kind you can carry them along with you to illuminate anything anytime anywhere.  And one such innovative lighting design I recently laid eyes upon is the Orbe.

Designer: Nelson Fossey and Lexon

French designer Nelson Fossey from Index Office collaborated with Lexon to create the Orbe lamp. Winner of the 2023 Red Dot Design award, the Orbe is a portable torchiere lamp that is designed to illuminate spaces wherever and whenever needed. Nelson Fossey has a minimalist and simple approach to lighting, making the designer the perfect candidate for Lexon to team up with. They wanted to create a lighting design that is suitable for all occasions.

The Orbe Lamp is inspired by childhood memories of playing the cup-and-ball game and features a detachable magnetic head with an interesting 2-part design that can be easily attached and detached. The act of connecting and disconnecting the 2 parts brings to mind the childhood joy and enthusiasm of playing games! The colors were selected to be playful – such as sedate black, gold, and glossy white options. The Orbe is designed for outdoor use and is meant to be a portable product with an IPX4 rating that equals splash-resistant. You can easily carry the lamp with you anywhere, and its rotatable head emits a peak output of 100 lumens of light.

Quite interestingly, the LED lamp doesn’t just radiate one hue output, in fact, it can emit 9 colors, and even dimming as an option. When the Orbe is at its lowest setting, it can produce an impressive 48 hours of illumination, in only 5 hours of recharging via a USB-C cable. The Orbe lamp is an excellent option for outdoor enthusiasts who are constantly looking for fun, functional and practical products to add to their box of essential outdoor gear.

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The Austria Pavilion is a climate-sensitive structure reflecting the country’s commitment for a better future

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“Austria makes sense” was the slogan of the Austria Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai, and as you’ll read further about it, you’ll probably understand why. Designed by Querkraft, the Austria Pavilion was deeply inspired by the iconic wind towers, and climate-regulating features of traditional Arab architecture, usually created from clay. The pavilion functions as a beautiful oasis of calm and relaxation and as an impressive experience that allows visitors to immerse themselves in Austria’s most important values completely.

Designer: Querkraft

The pavilion is a multi-sensory building comprising of thirty-eight intersecting cones of varying heights. Since the structure is inspired by historical wind towers, it primarily relies on natural air conditioning. It has been placed around three green courtyards and has been equipped with a water mist system that regulates the climate naturally. At night, the clay and concrete walls absorb the coolness of the space and release it within the pavilion during the day. This has drastically reduced energy requirements by 70% as compared to buildings of a similar kind.

“In the midst of the hustle and bustle of the EXPO business, visitors to the Austrian Pavilion will find a place to slow down and relax with pleasant climate, daylight, and references to nature,” said Querkraft. They wanted to “make an intercultural contribution to the energy debate and questions of climate-sensitive building.”

Diverse room sequences with unique atmospheres have been positioned inside, and outside the pavilion. The conical clay roofs of the pavilion intersect with the canopy of leaves rustling over them to create an omnipresent and intriguing interplay of light and shadow, allowing the building to appeal to all our senses. The individual cones have been constructed from eight different fabricated parts in an igloo system. This economical utilization of materials ensures that, once the cones are dismantled, they can be reassembled and reused at a new location.

The Austria Pavilion was staged by Büro Wien, Ars Electronica Solutions, and design agency Bleed, and boasts of Austria’s outstanding cultural and technical innovations. It is also a winner of the Red Dot Design Award 2022.

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These marvelous fire extinguishers will make you feel like a superhero

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Very few of us probably think about being ready for fires. We might have emergency go-bags prepared for disasters like earthquakes and floods, but most of us will still be caught unprepared if a fire breaks out. Fire extinguishers are, or at least should be, a necessity in any home, but that’s hardly the case. Even those that do have one or two keep them out of sight, rendering them inaccessible in an emergency. A major reason for that might be the unsightly appearance of these cylindrical tanks that create an eyesore that makes our minds averse to their presence. Unfortunately, that may come at a price of human lives, so this new breed of fire extinguishers rethink that design and turn it into an almost literal shield that you’d actually be proud to display anywhere in your house.

Designer: Premysl Kokes

The problem with emergencies and accidents is that you never know when they will happen, which is why they’re called emergencies and accidents. That’s why we need to be prepared for any eventuality and have the tools ready to aid us. Fire extinguishers are supposed to be easy to access and easy to use, but the reality is quite the opposite. They’re often placed in hard-to-reach corners and are cumbersome to operate, adding to the panic and stress that people would have already been suffering.

Designed by architect and fire survivor Přemysl Kokeš, the Hussechuck and Shield fire extinguishers completely redefine what you thought fire extinguishers should look like. While there’s very little to be done for the weight, simply changing its shape and manner of use can drastically improve its usability. In this case, turning the device into a circle like a giant steering wheel or shield frees one hand for other things and offers some protection for your body as well.

Whether it’s the basic Hussechuck or the covered Shield, the way you use it is the same. You slip your left arm into the strap and use a trigger to release the fire retardant from the front opening hole. There’s also a short hose for those times when you really need to use it like a traditional extinguisher. Otherwise, it can all be used with a single arm, freeing your other arm to support it or hold something else. It also makes you look cool, like a firefighting superhero donning a veritable shield.

Although the Hussechuck itself is already more presentable than a conventional tank, the Shield and Shield Plus add even more reasons for you to show it off on your walls. These two offer a variety of stylish covers, including some with a self-extinguishing textile surface, that turn them into decorative pieces for your interiors. With this redesign, you have fewer reasons to forget where you placed that life-saving device and even get to look a little cool under literal fire.

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This configurable remote control is the one remote to rule them all that your fingers might love

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This ingenious remote control almost solves all the hangups people have with complicated remote and flat smartphones while giving your finger an almost familiar sensation.

Smart home products are invading our houses, be it in the living room or in our personal sanctuaries. From lights to speakers to TVs to even ovens, almost anything can be controlled with a smartphone these days. That’s not always the most convenient way to control all these devices, even when they’re located in a single place. A dedicated remote control can free your phone for other uses, and this configurable device could be the only one your fingers will ever need.

Designer: Ruwido

Traditional TV remotes are often considered to be the bane of usability and simplicity with their dozens of buttons, but few would deny the benefits that tactile and haptic feedback has on our minds, especially when it comes to developing muscle memory. Some smart TV remotes have ditched all but the most essential buttons but at the cost of flexibility.

Smartphones seem to offer the best of those two worlds since controls can change at a moment’s notice to control almost any smart device, but it sacrifices the physicality of control in the process. Additionally, using the phone as a remote means not using the phone as a phone, which cuts into the time you might otherwise spend on social media. A dedicated remote is still a better option, and the Ruwido Liza might actually have the perfect blend of all three worlds.

It doesn’t have the dizzying number of buttons as a typical remote, but the Liza easily has three or four times the “buttons” as an Apple TV remote. What’s special about these concave buttons is that they are actually tiny touch screens that provide haptic feedback when pressed. Unlike a phone’s screen, the vibration of each “button” gives better tactile feedback, even if they’re not exactly like a physical button that you can feel when it goes down at each press.

Unlike many programmable remote controls, the Liza does show the icons that you assigned for each button, including cover art for your favorite albums or playlists, for example. This takes away the guesswork when switching between different smart appliances and helps develop the muscle memory that conventional remotes are best known for. All that’s left now is for the Liza to support more smart home products and services beyond Spotify, Sonos, Philips Hue, and some TVs, and it will truly be the one remote you’ll ever need.

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Siemens Pendulum Seat swings out of the way when trains need more standing room

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Trains are designed to sit commuters comfortably, or at least in theory. In many cases, however, it might be more efficient to have everyone just stand, and this concept makes it possible for the same train to do both.

As the world tries to return to normal, mass transportation services are once again becoming crowded. In many countries, trains of all kinds are seen as the most efficient way to move the biggest number of people, but their designs are mostly stuck in the past when it comes to seating accommodations. In trying to accommodate both sitting and standing passengers, trains actually fail at serving both at the best of their capacity. That is unless they try to implement Siemen’s idea.

Designer: Siemens

Image Courtesy of Red Dot

Despite its name, the Pendulum Seat doesn’t swing back and forth freely or loosely. It is, instead, more like the pendulum of a metronome that can be locked at fixed positions. A single seat is actually made up of two seats whose backrests can either fold up or swivel down to form an atypical sitting position.

The idea here is to have the same train change its sitting or standing capacity at any given time. If there aren’t that many passengers onboard, like during off-peak hours, the Pendulum Seat can be used as a conventional seat with ample legroom for commuters. During rush hours, however, the backrests can go completely vertical to provide more room for people to stand.

All of these can be controlled by the train driver to adjust the configuration with the push of a button. There is even a configuration where backrests can alternate their positions, creating an odd seating arrangement. In its vertically folded form, the backrests can even be used as support for standing passengers to lean against.

The idea is definitely novel and interesting, which is why Siemens bagged a few awards for its design. That said, the design itself might not look that comfortable, especially as a chair where you will be parking your bum on what is practically a padded cylinder. This design seems to be more focused on getting as many people around as possible rather than on providing comfort during the travel time. Then again, there is probably nothing more uncomfortable than having to fight for space on a crowded train made more cramped by unyielding seats.

Images Courtesy of iF Design

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This saucer-shaped light fixture hangs by electric wires like a yo-yo to look as if it’s floating midair!

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Light in Tight is a line of saucer-shaped light fixtures that hang from electric wires just like a yo-yo, designed by Seungheon Baek and Jinhyeong Kwon.

Our interior spaces can be transformed with the right lighting. Through the years, the iterations of desk lamps and standing light fixtures to come from designers have truly been endless. Considering the necessity of light in interior spaces, light fixtures will remain relevant in the design world for decades to come. Inspired by the fastening potential of taut telephone pole wires, Seungheon Baek and Jinhyeong Kwon developed Light in Tight, an innovative light fixture design that gives the illusion that it’s floating in midair.

Struck by an image of the moon stationed brightly behind tangles of telephone wires, Baek and Kwon found both practicality and aesthetics for their lighting design. Light in Tight is comprised of three components: an electric wire power supply, three different types of lights, and a clamp-in screw mechanism. Holding the fixture’s glass coverings together, the clamp-in screw fastens the light bulb’s container and provides a point of tension for the electric wires to be pulled taut.

The power supply electric wire loops over the hyperbolic shaped light fixture, kind of like a yo-yo, to keep it in place while the wire ends find respective hanging points. Light in Tight can be configured midair in numerous positions, transforming the height, direction, and movement of the lighting as it changes.

The most amount of luminosity coming from Light in Tight is emitted towards the floor, while our periphery sightlines remain dim. Moving from the light fixture’s brightest section, the translucent covering grows in opacity towards the top. Shaped like a saucer, Light in Tight has a unique look that would complement modern interiors nicely, while remaining familiar enough to feel classic in any room.

Designers: Seungheon Baek and Jinhyeong Kwon

The light fixtures hang from electric wires that loop over the hyperbolic shape of the light bulb’s outfittings.

Light in Tight comes with a small spotlight fixture that hangs the same way as the line’s larger light fixtures. 

From its base, the lightbulb container is translucent, lighting the ground below, then opacifies near the top.

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This gas-powered toaster, oven and stove will be your favorite companion in the kitchen and outdoor!

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A combination of a toaster, oven and stove is in itself a multifunctional appliance you cannot do without in the kitchen. The downside of any traditional option is its dependence on electricity. Though, non-electric toaster and oven combos have struck their brilliance with the outdoorsy, the gas-powered Cook Nook presents an added advantage with a stove.

There is so much one can do with the non-electric toaster, stove and oven combo. It can be used for making toasts, roasting chicken, baking cake and even preparing a meal when electricity isn’t a luxury. So, when stepping into the wilderness, a portable and lightweight gas-operated toaster, oven, stove is the icing on the cake since it opens up possibilities for a great treat for a large family or friends gathering with the choice of pizzas, cookies, and other delicious.

With the combo appliance like the Cook Nook fueled by gas, you can save time and money while in the kitchen, in the backyard, or when hiking or camping in the outdoors. Such an appliance that does not require electricity is useful in everyday life and even in case of an emergency. In addition to cooking a fresh meal or a quick snack, this can even be used to bring frozen food to life. For its convenience and portability, the Cook Nook toaster, oven and stove will be a welcome product in the lives of the outdoorsy as it will solve the problem of finding an electric outlet for its needs.

In the kitchen, this multifunctional appliance will only occupy a small space and when it’s set for travel, it will pack up neatly and fit easily in the boot of your car. Interestingly, this yellow appliance comes with a CD player-style slide-out tray for toasts and baking and has a nice sturdy stove on the top. The stove has a sizable burner with pan support. The gas canister is placed on the right side with a compartment to hold an extra cartridge. The control knobs seem nice and easy to rotate, while the pan support can be removed and a lid can be applied on top to cover the unit when not in use.

The Cook Nook may not have the prowess to compete with the traditional options on the market, which are larger and more powerful in operation, but it surely makes for a decent option when portability and accessibility are on the mind!

Designers: Ishikawa Shinji, Huang Yingwen, Xie Xinyi, Zhou Shan

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