Yanko Design - Form Beyond Function

After the disaster at Grenfell Tower in London, the X-Space should be developed as a mandatory addition to every home. It forms a robust and safe bubble outside the building during a fire. Occupying the space of a window when closed, the X-Space works like an ordinary window when needed, but in the case of an emergency, can be opened out like a bellow into a safe, fire-retardant personal space. The minute you open the emergency hatch, it notifies the fire-fighting department. The window is even lined with emergency lights that can alert people nearby.

The construction of the X-Space is lightweight, but can take the weight of 2 adults, or an adult and 2 kids. Houses with larger families can easily install 2 or more X-Spaces in their apartments. The space provides a smoke and fire free temporary haven for victims, while even allowing them to be evacuated easily via an escape window that firefighters can open from the outside.

The X-Space Window is a winner of the A’ Design Award in the Social Design Category.

Designers: Du Heli, Xue Wenkai, Sun Jian, Jiang Meihan & Zhou Xiaozhu.

The Home Aquaponics Fish Tank creates a wonderful self-sustaining ecosystem where an aquarium and terrarium live off each other’s waste, beautifully displaying the relationship between flora and fauna.

The system creates a closed loop where the fish waste becomes a natural fertilizer for the plants, who in turn clean the aquarium, providing the fish with pristine filtered water. While the fish tank doesn’t ever need to be cleaned (thanks to the aquaponics system), the fish needs to be fed occasionally and the tank comes with a supply of fish food.

Not just a wonderful addition to a living room or even school, the Home Aquaponics Fish Tank can serve as your own mini-kitchen garden too! Available with its own set of organic seeds, you can grow sprouts and herbs of your own to use in your meals… effectively introducing humans into this beautiful mini-ecosystem!

Designer: Back to the Roots

BUY NOW

BUY NOW

The designers of the Le Pli lamp call it “plain looking” but plain has never looked so pretty! Cleverly constructed almost entirely of folded paper, its angular body consists of just 3 paper layers – 2 of which are electrically conductive.

The power supply works with a simple wood stand that the paper lamp can be plugged into. This way, apart from the cord providing the stand with power, no cable is needed for Le Pli to function! Installation of the LEDs directly on the paper also keeps the design light and free of inessential components.

The dimensions of the unfolded lamp are aligned to a DIN A3 envelope, so that together with the stand, it can be easily stored and shipped, to be folded by the customer on arrival.

Designers: Sascha dos Santos & Tilmann Studinsky

How would you feel about having your cleaning appliances on display?! I’m not entirely sold on the idea of leaving your vacuum out, but if I had to, it had better look something like this! It’s called Mundi and it gives the electric sweeper a brand new, never before seen silhouette.

This lightweight vacuum adopts an unconventional circular form that’s not only beautiful but functional for navigating smoothly around furniture and other objects. When you’re not using it, a minimalistic charging hub keeps it elevated and pumps it with power until you need again. As smart as it is sleek, the glass top interface notifies users when it’s time to empty the collection bin and will even alert when an area has already been vacuumed!

Designer: William Turner

When it comes to award programs, I’m no silent advocate. It’s the one place that houses all the best designs, adding new projects to its list every year. As a designer myself, I just love scrolling through galleries, seeing what my contemporaries are up to. Plus, you never know when inspiration strikes. The mind works like a creative bank. The more you put in, the more it generates… and by that theory, just scrolling through a feed of incredible design is sure to spark your mind with creative genius. It has worked for me!

A’ Design Award and Competition’s winner galleries are exceptional because they’re so incredibly diverse. No matter what you find interesting, there’s a category of winning designs for you, ranging all the way from Transportation, to Medical, to Architecture, Consumer Electronics, Toy Design, to even more niche categories like Social Design, Futuristic Design, and Differently-Abled Design (just think of a category, and it’ll be there). The aim of A’ Design’s diverse approach is to house all incredible works and projects under one single umbrella, and therefore be the go-to awards program for any and all creative work.

The point I’m trying to make is, the idea is to be inspired by looking at great work and then do great work yourself to inspire others, therefore helping the wheel of creativity and great design turn. In fact, here’s a set of 10 rather amazing pieces of work I found to be pretty inspirational. Just looking at these designs will get those creative juices flowing, and when they do, develop them into products that will garner attention, gather awards, and sit proudly in your portfolios, and on our site too! Go ahead… Scroll through!

You can even Register now and get your design evaluated for the 2017-18 A’ Design Award and Competition by submitting your entries!

YD Handpicks: 10 Inspirational designs from the A’ Design Award and Competition 2016-17 Winners

01. Flike by Maform

Undoubtedly James-Bond-ish in its approach, the Flike is a Flying Bike that puts a man on a tri-copter drone. Designed with an electric/hybrid power train, the Flike can go up to speeds of 100 km/h and can reach a height of 30 meters. These limits were set electronically, so as to maximize safety, and Maform says they’ve built working prototypes already… hmmm!

02. Silhouette Collection by Libero Rutilo

Libero Rutilo’s work with PET bottles is nothing if not exemplary. Here’s a look back at the Leaf made by Libero that everyone instantly loved! The Silhouette collection shown here, gives PET bottles a second life by cladding them in intricately printed exoskeletons, turning them from boring pieces of plastic, to the most interesting vases you’ll own!

03. Fume by Hakan Gürsu

Interesting fact. Hakan Gursu stands at the top of A’ Design’s World Designer Rankings with a mind-blowing total of 83 A’ Design Awards over the years! The Fume got him yet another award this year for its beautiful design. Just a simple tinted transparent acrylic cube, the Fume acts as a rather beautiful pen-stand for your alcohol markers (something designers swear by). Its design doesn’t just have them laid out in an interesting format, it even allows you to segregate them by hue into three zones… One for color, one for warm grays, and one for cool grays. Genius!

04. Renard GT by Andres Uibomäe

The Renard GT tries to channel the spirit of a 1930s motorbike into a form factor that is modern and undeniably unique. The Renard GT’s carbon-fiber unibody integrates the motorcycle’s frame, fuel tank, and air box, while weighing just 9 kgs and looking so good, it could kill!

05. Filoferru by Robby Cantarutti

Nice chair, right? It’s made from individually looped pieces of metal piping, giving it a hypnotic quality. The pipes form everything from the chair’s legs, to the backrest, to the seat to even armrests! I personally love how it looks like a Slinky was bent into forming a seating device!

06. SpiderPan by Receb Bilici

Look out! Here comes the Spider-Pan!
The Spider-Pan was named so for its hexagonal design and its spider-leg inspired handles that do something rather wonderful. When you need to hold the pan like a saucepan, the handles fold outwards and join, to become an extended single handle. However, the handles separate and fold inwards too, forming two separate gripping points on either side of the utensil, perfect for heavier food items that need to be held with both hands. Ingenious, isn’t it? Plus, the handles when folded in are a great space saver in drawers and cabinets!

07. 01: Dimensioning Instrument by InstruMMents Inc.

As a proud owner of the 01 Dimensioning Pen by InstruMMents, I have to say… it’s absolutely spoiled me for scales and tape measures. The pen features a one of a kind rolling ring and a laser pointing guide that allows you to simply (and digitally) capture measurements both regular and non-linear with sheer accuracy. All measurements (accurate to the nearest 1/10th of a millimeter, get stored on the InstruMMents app, allowing you to save data for later use. Plus, the pen itself comes with interchangeable pencil, roller-ball, and stylus heads!

08. Paq by Maform

Maform’s second project to feature on this list isn’t as detailed or as intense as its previous one, but it explores something fun and quirky. The Paq, a seating made entirely from a sheet of foam and a cylinder, serves as a sitting stool and mattress when opened out, but by virtue of clever design, turns into a rather fun beanbag-inspired chair with a backrest that can be set up by not just adults, but by children (with a little practice) too! Pretty interesting form exploration, don’t you think??

09. Ji Mu by Bowen Qian

Using just a series of wooden ‘L’ sections, Bowen Quian creates a variety of furniture pieces by just fixing them at different places. The simple L shaped wooden ply pieces become a chair with a backrest but lay them out in a square shape, and you have a table who’s height matches perfectly with your L Chair. You can even make a wine bottle holder, or a magazine holder by fixing them together in an X shaped layout! What other orientations and products can you think of using these innovative wooden ‘L’ sections??

10. DuoSkin by Cindy Hsin-Liu Kao

DuoSkin presents the future of body-art that just doesn’t serve the purpose of art, but involves an element of interaction design too! The thin metal foil laid out on the skin has the ability to conduct electricity, or even act as a sensor, becoming one of the first fashion-oriented bio-tech products, not just serving a medical purpose, but even going as far as becoming interfaces for the products we use. Imagine being able to type out messages on your skin, or unlock your door with a pattern drawn on your fore-arm, or initiating a 911 emergency call using a secret button placed against your skin. The possibilities are literally endless!

Inspired?? Register for the A’ Design Award and Competition today!