1700 product concepts from over 60 countries made their presence felt in this year’s Electrolux Design Lab, in response to the brief of ‘Inspired Urban Living’. Industrial and product designers pitched in with some common themes addressing personal care and care of the near and dear ones – from healthier, cleaner homes to cooking, from appliance accessories to domestic robots. Product concepts emerging out of design schools are audacious at times, and one can see a hint of it in some of the concepts. Bio-mimicry appears to be catching on, along with the need for us to breathe non-polluted air. Not all of the concepts are going to go through to final development and prototyping – but for the very few that do, it will still remain a test to see if what looked good as idea sketches and concept notes, actually function as envisaged in the everyday real world. Take a look at some of the entries for the Electrolux Design Lab 2013.

 

Air Drop | The Air Drop solar powered air filtration system uses sunlight for energy like plants | Jillian Tackaberry, BFA Industrial Design, University of Illinois at Chicago, United States.

Atem | Atem opens your space to the outside world. It provides constant air circulation-lets in only clean air, improve its temperature & creates ambiance.| Małgorzata Blachnicka, Industrial Design, Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts, Poland

 

 

Global Chef | Global Chef is a kitchen appliance that bring people together all accross the world by using laser hologram technology. | Dawid Dawod, MA Advanced Product Design, Umeå Institute of Design, Sweden

Cellular Pillow | As an air cleaner and pillow which combine with biological technology, the Cellular Pillow has natural characteristics of the CAM plant. | Qing Ji, MSC Industrial Design, Coventry University, United Kingdom

3F Vacuum Cleaner | Triple”F” stands for “Form Follows Function”. The physical body of 3F can change and mutate to suit the task required. It cleans, it disinfects, and it scents the air in your home. | Germain Verbrackel, Industrial design, EDNA (Ecole de Design Nantes Atlantique), France

 

Harvest Matching | With the Harvest Matching App, it is easy and fun to invite friends to cook together and combine the share stick to assist us to take care of plants. | Ke chang-han, Technology school, National Yunlin University of Science and Technology, Taiwan, Province Of China

Orbita | Orbita is a device in charge of keeping our home always clean, helping us doing it an effortless task. It will take advantage of our everyday’s energy | Natalia Aguado, Product design, Escuela Superior de Diseño de la Rioja, Spain

Mab | Mab is an automated cleaning system, consisting of hundreds of micro-robots. With this self-contained cleaning solution the user can escape the everyday chores to experience a little bit of magic and utopia. | Adrian Perez Zapata, Universidad San Buenaventura Medellín and Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, Colombia