Exb_Design of the year 2010

Brit Insurance Designs of the Year 2010 is held by Design Museum London every year to explore the most innovative, exquisite or new-looking project in design all over the world. It includes 7 categories: architecture, fashion, furniture, graphics, interactive, product and transport. 

In this exhibition the selected works are balanced between applicable and conceptual. Besides the architecture part which are built and less interesting, the furniture, product and transport are more intriguing. It includes the public bicycle sharing system Urbikes that is designed in Spain to offer door to door services has already fully working in one Catalan city. Chirnside’s Polytopia seating system designed in Australia strikes the balance between aesthetics, comfort and concept of contemporary furniture, it examines how people interactive and communicate when sharing the chairs. An repair project by Linda Browthwell is an unique case, which concept is to use traditional craft techniques to repair everyday objects within the public realm, it intervene the public space by patching not replacing. 

Other work like the lightest Carbon fiber chair designed by Shigeru Ban Architects, the low-cost sports wheelchair and I consider as the most revolutionized product for Britain is the Folding Plug that is designed by Min-Kyu Choi, as there must be people struggling buying mini size electronics but end up with the chunky UK plugs that is even bigger than the product itself. This is the best example of the design with simple idea, but balance the conceptual, applicable and also aesthetic. The last must seen and indeed very cutting edge, eye catching conceptual product is the BMW - Light Visionary Model. From the appearance, It’s a convention handsome looking sports car, but instead of build in tradition rigid frame with aluminum or steel plate, its composite with hi-tech fabric skin stretched over a moveable wire frame which enables the car to change shape and form. The headlight is the most exciting part, its like human eyelid, with hidden and blinking apertures that hides in the fabric. It’s a whole new idea beyond the solid robotic transformer type of thinking, a car body that is intangible, elastic like a flesh with a dressing.