Electrolux has recently announced the 2015 edition of its Design Lab international student competition, with doubled cash prizes. In this competition students are challenged to create a concept that is relevant to the time and raises questions about what design will be like in the future.
In 2015, Electrolux Design Lab is seeking for innovative concepts for future households under the theme of Healthy Happy Kids.
The best designer in 2015 will be awarded with 10,000 Euro and six (6) months paid internship at Electrolux. Cash prizes of 6,000 Euro, 4,000 Euro and 2,000 Euro will be awarded to the second best design, the third best design and the design which gets chosen as the best by public voting.
Healthy Happy Kids is the overarching theme and within that theme the organizers ask you to choose one of the following focus areas; cooking, fabric care or air purification. You may come up with your own angle, but the organizers are especially interested in the following aspects:
- Cooking: Time spent in the kitchen is an increasingly important focus for families as cooking and baking with children is seen as a bonding activity. Parental concern about their children’s’ future is fuelling an emphasis on developing good habits and the kitchen is a good place start. Kids also want to be engaged in the home activities through real experiences, but what would be the best way to involve children I cooking? How can we make children to open up to exploring food, healthy eating habits?
- Fabric Care: The laundry processes in a family can seem tedious and require quite a lot of work. At the same time we all, even the little ones, have our precious garments that are especially important to us and we wish to take good care of them. Specialized laundry programs already exist for sensitive garments, but how can we involve the new favorite garments of the children in the family to the hectic and complex laundry process and how can we make sure that everybody in the family receives the correct treatment for the garments they care for the most?
- Air Purification: Consumers are looking for new ways and ideas to protect their families and minimize the risks they expose their kids to. They try to ensure their life styles are healthy and that products and services they use on a day to day basis are safe and do not include harmful substances. With kids, this is a special concern especially when it comes to the indoor air that we breathe. Look into the daily routines of children, e.g. sleeping, and think, what solutions can contribute to a healthier indoor air quality?
The Electrolux Design Lab competition is conducted in four stages:
- first submission (100+ contestants chosen),
- second development work (70+ contestants),
- third development work (35 semi-finalists) and
- the final event presentation (6 finalists).
The contestants are filtered between stages by the Electrolux experts and public voting. The best entries are placed online in the beginning of May allowing them instant global recognition.
The Electrolux Design Lab was established in 2003 and is open to undergraduate and graduate design students worldwide.
Submissions for the 2015 competition open on 4 March 2015.
