Ingenious appliance concepts among Electrolux Design Lab finalists

Another design competition set to become a global fixture, a source of household appliance ideas and a massive generator of awareness for the brand is the Electrolux Design Lab. The theme for the fourth Electrolux Design Lab competition, for which the winners were announced last month, was “household appliance solutions for food preservation and storage that promote healthier eating habits for 2016.” The winning entry (adjudged by the jury as the most innovative product) was from Turkish student Metin Kaplan, was named Nevale and is a mobile food carrier, though there were some other stand-out ideas including Brian Law’s Organic Cook concept (that uses vacuum cooking in a new inventive way), Eduardo Altamirano’s Vessto portable cook-top which took second and third place. Two of the non-placed finalists that we think are really neat are Teeravit Hanharutaivan’s Vege (an appliance that allows consumers to grow vegetables in their kitchen) and Kleber Puchaski’s HydroSphere (a gorgeous transparent sphere for growing herbs, vegies and fruit indoors).

Kaplan capitalized on the idea that people would take healthy meals with them if they could find a way to keep warm food warm and cold food cold. He created a mobile food carrier that keeps food at the desired temperature until it's time to be eaten. This, figured Kaplan, would promote healthy eating and reduce the need for fast-food restaurants.

Kaplin's concept, which he termed Nevale, is based on the shape of an antique food container named "sefertas", a type of layered food container that's been used in Middle Eastern countries for centuries to carry homemade food. Kaplin's product is also built in layers, with a hood featuring a digital control screen, and holds up to four different hot and/or cold meals. The digital display provides information on the food's storage conditions and can be programmed to launch an automated re-heating process at a specific time (for example at lunch). Alternatively, for cold foods, Nevale maintains a perfect preservation temperature. Each layer works independently, ensuring both hot and cold food items can be transported along each other.

When announcing the winner, the jury gave the following motivation: Metin Kaplan's concept product is both historically and globally relevant and would promote a healthier lifestyle. It is a reinvented and modernized concept that easily could be used all around the world because of its simplicity that recognizes people's eating habits. Kaplan is also awarded because of a well executed project. His design process is absolutely thorough with a complete research background. The product uses form, colors and technique in a new and creative way.

"The concept not only solves a problem, but it also promotes a healthier lifestyle," says Henrik Otto, head of Electrolux design. "That became very apparent as we were looking at the whole design of the concept. The winning concept makes it easy to make healthy decisions that are good for you. I was also stunned by the fact that there is a link between the winning concept and the on second and third place winners

The jury awarded second and third places, respectively, to Brian Chuan Chai Law (National University of Singapore, Singapore) for his concept that uses vacuum cooking in a new inventive way, and Eduardo Altamirano Segovia (Universidad La Salle, Mexico) for his portable cook-top that uses renewable energy.

Jury members judged the final selections based on their design and innovation, while taking functional, aesthetical and emotional aspects into account.