A refrigerator-and-water-dispenser-in-one won for Aileen Dominguez of UP Diliman the plum prize in the local Electrolux Design Lab competition.

The 22-year old Visual Communication and Industrial Design major created ‘Oasis Refrigerator,’ a futuristic home appliance that manages food storage in the ref and at the same time provides a continuous flow of drinking water.

Aileen designed it in such a way that the home’s water source is connected to the ref’s filter system, providing potable drinking water. It also uses radio frequency identification (RFID) signals to update the owner regarding the amount, expiration dates, and other important information about food items inside the refrigerator through an LCD monitor.

“It’s nice to have that ability to design something and make lives easier for people,” says Aileen, who received R50,000 worth of appliances as prize.

Two other Industrial Design students from UP also made it to the top three, who won based on the following criteria: intuitive design, innovation, and consumer insight.

Job Buenazedacruz created the Electrolux Cookpot, which helps inexperienced cooks by retrieving cooking instructions straight from a food packaging’s RFID tag.

Arturo Enrico Navarro designed the people prepare and store food, wash clothes, and do dishes over the next nine decades.

“The Electrolux Design Lab local competition provides a chance to showcase the country’s talent in creating designs that are far from the mundane. That’s why we are giving Filipino students our full support. We know that within them, lies infinite ideas and infinite possibilities,” says Electrolux
marketing manager Terry Sales.

PARTNERSHIP WITH U.P.

First mounted in the Philippines in 2007, Design Lab was held this year in tandem with Global Design Lab 2009.

As early as now, it has been decided that for next year’s competition, Electrolux Design Lab will partner with the UP College of Fine Arts’ Industrial Design Program. Students participating will undergo a thorough briefing of the Design Lab competition, workshop with Electrolux director of design Pernilla Johansson, and internships at Electrolux.

Aside from honing the skills of industrial design students by exposing them to a global competition, the partnership will also establish a dialogue between the industry and the academe to further enhance its design processes, and to create designs that are socially and culturally relevant and environmentally safe.

Meanwhile, Swedish design student Richard Hederstierna from Lund Institute of Technology in Sweden is the winner of the Electrolux Design Lab 2009 competition for inventing “Cocoon,” the meat and fishmaker.

Other winners include “Water Catcher,” the flying rain catcher and water purifier by Penghao Shan from Zhejiang Sci-tech University, China for second place and “Renew,” the smart steamer by Louis Filosa from Purdue University, US for third place.

The People’s Choice Award (as voted online) is “Teleport Fridge,” the refrigerator that teleports food by Dulyawat Wongnawa from Chulalongkorn University, Thailand.