Design News

A solar gem

The new Solar Pebble from UK company Plus Minus Solar is a sustainable solution to an age old problem in developing countries.

Kerosene lamps are widely used in poorer areas, including rural Africa. They are costly to run and kerosene itself is highly toxic. In the poorest countries in the world thousands of people die everyday from exposure to kerosene.

There are quite a few companies now looking at alternative low cost, sustainable lighting and energy solutions specifically for these areas and Plus Minus Solar seem to be the latest company to apply clever design to this issue.

The soon-to-be-released Solar Pebble can light a room for a day on a 12 hour charge and is also suitable for charging small electronic devices like mobile phones. It costs about 10% of what a family would spend on kerosene, is highly portable and is 100% cleaner than the kero alternative.

Great green design solving a genuine need.

Let us know if you'd like eco-design advice for your next project.

Clever simplicity

The Ru Chair is inspired by the shape and posture of a kangaroo. The lack of front legs and distinct cantilevered appearance are reminiscent of the famous Australia icon.

This simple but striking chair was designed by Stockholm based industrial designer Shane Schneck for Danish company Hay. It utilises cleverly cross-laminated plywood sections that are combined to provide strength without overpowering the visual appearance.

By eliminating the traditional front legs of a utility chair, this new design allows for straightforward stacking on tables (or itself) for easy room cleaning.

The combination of clean styling and intelligent product engineering have produced a stunning result.

Call Katapult Design to combine elegant product styling with innovative product engineering.

You'll "enjoy" these

This beautifully understated range of kitchen utensils has been designed by Sebastian Bergne for Tefal, the French housewares brand famous for it's non-stick products.

The 5 products in the "Enjoy" range are elegantly styled whilst remaining ergonomically correct and practical for all your cooking needs.

Apart from looking great and working well, these utensils are also environmentally sound. They are specifically designed to use minimal material and are moulded in recycled PET. What an inspired re-use of plastic bottles!

Want an inspired eco-friendly design solution for your next product? Contact Katapult.

A step ahead

Porsche Design and Adidas have collaborated to produce a stunning new collection of sports footwear that focuses on the the theme "water/snow". For more up-to-date images also check out designboom's amazing blog on all things design.

The range showcases the use of hi-tech materials, sophisticated styling and inspired design development to produce a group of products that are super contemporary yet highly functional.

The design team consulted with elite sports people during the design and testing phases of development, including 3 time Olympic gold medalist and 2 time America's Cup winning yachtsman, Jochen Shümann.

This type of deep creativity and focussed research adds both insight and credibility to the difficult process of consumer product design. Understanding what your customer's needs and challenges are is one of the most important steps along the road to product success.

Do you need some help sorting out your market's opportunities? Contact Katapult Design now.

10 gadgets that defined the decade

Happy New Year everyone! The team at Katapult hope that you enjoyed the festive season to it's fullest. We certainly did!

In honour of the start of a new decade we thought we'd have a look at a quick retrospective of the noughties with some help from engadget magazine. They've put together a thought provoking article on what they regard as the 10 gadgets that defined the decade.

As is always the case with these types of lists, I think you'll find it reasonably controversial for both the products left out and the ones that have been included. As you might expect Apple figures prominently, but how does the Asus Eee PC get into this group? I guess value for money can override beauty sometimes.

The Microsoft Xbox may have great performance, nice styling and awesome graphics but many would argue that the real paradigm shift of this decade was made by the Nintendo Wii with it's super interactive style of game play. Look out for more advances in immersive and interactive game play in the next few years.

Post the failure of COP15 let's hope that the next decade has an equally exciting range of new products with a more eco-friendly mindset. Time is running out for change.