Peter Alwin, a design student from India, is one of the eight finalists of the Electrolux Design Lab Competition 2010, who got acclaimed for his invention called Snail, a portable heating and cooking device.
This competition is meant for all students in the industrial design from all over the world who currently are in undergraduate or graduate schools, to showcase their creativity in forming new home appliances, especially the ones which can minimize domestic space.
The topic for the contest was to come up with a portable design which makes storing food, washing dishes, and clothes easy regardless of the place where one is, whether it is at home or even while traveling by train! The finals will be held on the 23rd of September this year at the 100% Design in London. All the eight finalists have come from different counties including India, China, Australia, Iran, Russia, Sweden, Australia, and France.
Alwin’s design ‘Snail’ operates on a magnetic induction system and thus the Snail can be attached with any cooking appliance like a mug, pot or a pan to heat the contents. It runs on ‘replaceable high density sugar crystal battery’, which converts energy from the sugar crystal. By heating up the coil and conducting the magnetic induction process towards the utensil, the thing in the pot gets cooked. The body of the Snail is made of high grade plastic which gives it a stronger yet lighter feel. The monitor can be operated with a touch display with basic interface.
Alwin describes his design, the Snail, as something based on the real-life snail which has a hard shell and as such, he regards nature as his inspiration for the design. Alwin further says that by 2050, a majority of the world population will be living in the urban areas, and hence, there will be an enormous pressure on living spaces. The consumer will then look for highly compact and portable appliances, based on earth-friendly and organic cooking techniques and this is where his Snail comes in the scene! It’s compact, portable and completely eco-friendly. With the Snail at your disposal, you can cook and heat food almost everywhere, whether in the study room, in a train, somewhere in the woods while you are on a picnic, in your car when you are off on a long drive and not to forget, in the good old kitchen as well!
The first prize in the Electrolux Design Lab Competition 2010 is an award of 5,000 Euros along with a six months internship at Electrolux Global Design Centre. The second and third prizes include 3,000 Euros and 2,000 Euros, respectively.
So, best of luck to Peter Alwin!
In case you are interested to view some cool Product concepts, then have a look at Samsung Proxima and Snowflake Speakers Concept.
Via: Electroluxdesignlab
