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Electrolux Design Lab Finalists opened up to people's vote

Electrolux Design Lab Finalists opened up to people's vote
Electrolux has announced the start of voting for the People's Choice Award in this year's Design Lab competition
Electrolux has announced the start of voting for the People's Choice Award in this year's Design Lab competition
View 30 Images
Electrolux has announced the start of voting for the People's Choice Award in this year's Design Lab competition
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Electrolux has announced the start of voting for the People's Choice Award in this year's Design Lab competition
Roseanne de Bruin's Smoobo Blender
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Roseanne de Bruin's Smoobo Blender
Roseanne de Bruin's Smoobo Blender
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Roseanne de Bruin's Smoobo Blender
Roseanne de Bruin's Smoobo Blender
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Roseanne de Bruin's Smoobo Blender
Roseanne de Bruin's Smoobo Blender
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Roseanne de Bruin's Smoobo Blender
Gyu Ha Choi's Robo Tap vacuum cleaner
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Gyu Ha Choi's Robo Tap vacuum cleaner
Gyu Ha Choi's Robo Tap vacuum cleaner
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Gyu Ha Choi's Robo Tap vacuum cleaner
Gyu Ha Choi's Robo Tap vacuum cleaner
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Gyu Ha Choi's Robo Tap vacuum cleaner
Gyu Ha Choi's Robo Tap vacuum cleaner
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Gyu Ha Choi's Robo Tap vacuum cleaner
Enzo Kocak's Ribbon portable heater and cooler
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Enzo Kocak's Ribbon portable heater and cooler
Adam Miklosi's Sous-vide Cell Cooker
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Adam Miklosi's Sous-vide Cell Cooker
Adam Miklosi's Sous-vide Cell Cooker
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Adam Miklosi's Sous-vide Cell Cooker
Adam Miklosi's Sous-vide Cell Cooker
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Adam Miklosi's Sous-vide Cell Cooker
Tommi Moilanen's Mobile Induction Heat Plate
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Tommi Moilanen's Mobile Induction Heat Plate
Tommi Moilanen's Mobile Induction Heat Plate
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Tommi Moilanen's Mobile Induction Heat Plate
Tommi Moilanen's Mobile Induction Heat Plate
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Tommi Moilanen's Mobile Induction Heat Plate
Tommi Moilanen's Mobile Induction Heat Plate
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Tommi Moilanen's Mobile Induction Heat Plate
Enzo Kocak's Ribbon portable heater and cooler
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Enzo Kocak's Ribbon portable heater and cooler
Enzo Kocak's Ribbon portable heater and cooler
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Enzo Kocak's Ribbon portable heater and cooler
Enzo Kocak's Ribbon portable heater and cooler
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Enzo Kocak's Ribbon portable heater and cooler
The Onda portable microwave oven from Matthew Schwartz
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The Onda portable microwave oven from Matthew Schwartz
The Onda portable microwave oven from Matthew Schwartz
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The Onda portable microwave oven from Matthew Schwartz
The Onda portable microwave oven from Matthew Schwartz
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The Onda portable microwave oven from Matthew Schwartz
Kent Madden's Salve Bagel Toaster
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Kent Madden's Salve Bagel Toaster
Kent Madden's Salve Bagel Toaster
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Kent Madden's Salve Bagel Toaster
Kent Madden's Salvé Bagel Toaster
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Kent Madden's Salvé Bagel Toaster
Kent Madden's Salve Bagel Toaster
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Kent Madden's Salve Bagel Toaster
Adrian Mankovecky's Spot Cleaner
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Adrian Mankovecky's Spot Cleaner
Adrian Mankovecky's Spot Cleaner
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Adrian Mankovecky's Spot Cleaner
Adrian Mankovecky's Spot Cleaner
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Adrian Mankovecky's Spot Cleaner
View gallery - 30 images

The grand final of this year's Electrolux Design Lab 2011 competition is fast approaching. The field has been reduced to the last eight solutions for compact living and video presentations of the concept designs produced. The young designers will get their chance to pitch for victory in front of the judges on September 7 in London, but before that Electrolux has opened up the ballot box for the People's Choice - a chance to reward your favorite design with some of the limelight. Read on for a look at those video presentations...

This year's finalists will present their design to the Design Lab's panel of judges at the Business Design Centre, London on September 7. Entries will be judged on intuitive design, innovation and consumer insight. The winner will receive EUR5,000 (US$7,233) and get to spend six months as a paid intern at one of the company's global design centers. Runners up will walk away with EUR3,000 (US$4,340) and EUR2,000 (US$2,893) for second and third place respectively. One of the final eight will also be crowned the public's favorite with the People's Choice Award.

To help you get a feel for who is most deserving of the latter accolade, have a look at the following concept presentation videos. In no particular order of preference, we start with a bounce and a roll, and a smoothie mixer first featured in our semi-finalist coverage in June - Roseanne de Bruin's Smoobo Blender.

Looks like a great way to get kids to drink more fresh fruit juice. If you need something to clean up the room after a bounce and blend session, Gyu Ha Choi's Robo Tap will follow your lead.

A few ways to heat food have made it through to the final eight - such as Adam Miklosi's Sous-vide Cell Cooker.

Then there's the Mobile Induction Heat Plate from Tommi Moilanen.

Enzo Kocak's Ribbon can double as both a portable heater and cooler.

Giving new life to TV dinners, Matthew Schwartz has designed the Onda portable microwave oven.

Bagel lovers the world over will no doubt be voting for the Salvé Bagel Toaster from Kent Madden.

If you find yourself salivating uncontrollably at the thought of rotating bagels being cooked while they turn, Adrian Mankovecký's Spot Cleaner could help.

So there you have it. If you'd like to vote for your People's Choice champion, head over to the poll page on Facebook before 14:00 CET, September 7. We'll bring you news of the winners shortly after.

View gallery - 30 images
8 comments
8 comments
Nardu Malherbe
Ribbon for the win. It\'s the appliance/gadget I would buy tomorrow if I could
Renārs Grebežs
I think the only winner is probably the spot cleaner inventor. Everything else is just too \'extra\'...
Slowburn
Nardu Malherbe
I agree it is the one I would buy.
Doug MacLeod
More junk we don\'t need. Take a look down the back of your kitchen cupboard\'s (or your mum\'s). What do you find? One slow cooker, one ice cream maker, one smoothie blender, one novelty sandwich toaster, that thing you saw demonstrated at a show which made great salad for the demonstrator but just slashes YOUR fingers to pieces...
Latest one I bought is an eco-whisk which you bash up and down like a \"yankee\" screwdriver. It actually works, but the action looks so suggestive the family just fall about laughing when I use it. Heading for the back of the cupboard soon, I reckon.
Same goes for this junk, but not until some of the planet\'s resources have been wasted on them... and Electrolux have made some money.
info
1 spot cleaner as probable winner - though I think the microwave product could find a big market with the elderly. A simple to use device with just a \"GO\" button would be brilliant for my 88 year-old mum.
But still waiting for the bread machine that could easily be adapted for cooking everything from a boiled egg, to soup and stews, to sauces, to ice cream. Electrolux?
Fred Conwell
That low-frequency drumming noise detracts from the verbal descriptions of these futuristic inventions.
Ed
I have to agree with Doug on this one...I watched these videos thinking that this was some kind of novelty-joke product thing...only after I watched them all did I realize that people were serious in these things...OMG! Are people *THAT* bored!
Gadgeteer
Most of these designs are stupid. Especially the battery-powered ones where the designers somehow think small batteries are going to have enough power to cook full meals.