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Kiwi ingenuity strikes again as Australian International Design Awards finalists are revealed

Last year New Plymouth-based manufacturer Howard Wright’s M8 Intensive Care bed took out the top nod at the Australian International Design Awards, and with the finalist list for the 2011 awards recently revealed, Kiwi products have once again made the prestigious design cut.

Kiwi agritech company Simcro, together with Fisher & Paykel and Air New Zealand, have all grabbed finalist nods, having been selected by a panel of 20 judges from 233 Australian and international entries. The finalist list is comprised of 127 products including cars, medical devices, cooking utensils, building tools and furniture.

It’s a double whammy for Fisher & Paykel with nominations for both its CookSpace product and its Wide Dish Drawer. The CookSpace is an oven that can be easily installed in walls or under benches and has the advantage of easy access. The Wide Dish Drawer is the world’s first and only 900mm DishDrawer and can accommodate nine place settings, up to 315mm. Both products are nominated in the Consumer category.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Simcro’s nomination comes in the Medical and Scientific category for its animal vaccine safety injector, the Sekurus.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And having found recent success at Conde Nast Traveller’s 2011 Innovation and Design Awards, where it took out the aviation category, Air New Zealand’s Skycouch Economy seat is at it again, picking up a nomination in the Architectural and Interior Products category. The SkyCouch is described in the finalist announcement as a “new airline seating solution designed to deliver more control, comfort and flexibility to economy passengers when travelling long-haul”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Other fancy nominations include a lightweight notebook computer, a finless surfboard, a fibreglass caravan, an interactive playground, and a musculoskeletal rehabilitation system.

All entries underwent a thorough physical assessment by a panel of leading design experts.

“Our esteemed judges spent a week assessing each entry against a common set of criteriafocussing on innovation, form, function, quality, safety and sustainability,” says Brandon Gien, managing director of Good Design Australia.

“Judges played with, tested, pulled apart and reassembled products to create an accurate user experience and understand each product’s design qualities.”

All finalists will now battle it out to take home either the Good Design or Design Award accolade. One standout product, which the judges unanimously agree excels above all other finalists, will receive the top prize, the 2011 Design Award of the Year.

The product that demonstrates best practice design for sustainability will be awarded the Sustainability Design Award.

And in an awards first, the highest scoring product in each of the eight entry categories will be recognised with a Best in Category, acknowledging best in class design.

Winners in the 2011 Australian International Design Awards will be announced at the Awards Presentation Ceremony to be held on Friday 22 July.

Designers, manufacturers and distributors of professionally designed products and services available on the Australian market are eligible to enter the awards and you can check out all of the finalists HERE.

Sayl

Kinch Tool Tethers

Eco Smart Fire

Flip Bike

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