Taiwan-based Designers Win 4 Silvers, 2 Bronzes at 2010 IDEA

The design community in Taiwan apparently is no longer an upstart trying to prove itself to the established, global designers. After a number of years entering international design contests, Taiwan-based designers and firms have built a considerable track record, winning top prizes at the iF-organized events, G Mark of Japan etc. And the string of success continues: Taiwanese designers have won four silver and two bronze medals at the 2010 International Design Excellence Award (IDEA), one of the world's most coveted design competitions.

The IDEA is organized annually by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) in the United States, a body claiming to be the world's oldest, largest, member-driven society for product design, industrial design, interaction design, human factors, ergonomics, design research, design management, universal design and related design fields, with roots reaching all the way back to 1938, before the age of plastics and at least 30 years before the age of electronics.

Besides the annual IDEA, the IDSA hosts the International Design Conference and five regional conferences each year, publishes Innovation, a quarterly on design, and designBytes, a weekly e-newsletter highlighting the latest headlines in the design world.

According to the Taiwan Design Center (TDC), a national body on the island, only 190 products out of the 407 finalists from 29 nations are shortlisted by 18 jurors, who eventually decide on the winners of gold, silver and bronze medals.

In addition to showing innovativeness and style, the TDC says the winners at the IDEA are carefully evaluated for positive influences on users, consumers, society and environment, as well as praising the maturity of local designers and their global competitiveness that help them to stand out at global design contests.

The LED Mini Star is an eco-friendly, ultra-slim, lightweight lamp that saves energy, runs cool and is easily installed in low voltage fixtures. With an LED light source, this lamp reduces material usage and provides safer, long-lasting lighting.

Lei Yueh designed the LED Mini Star as an eco-friendly lamp, which has a slim, lightweight body with a stylish, rippled shade, coupled with high output and long-life LED module.

Made of 304 and 303 stainless steel, this potable water faucet is resistant to acid, heat and corrosion, as well as being coating-free to minimize chemical hazards to users.

Exceeding even typical brass, rubber and ceramic cartridges, the stainless steel cartridge is extra durable, lasting up to 200,000 operations.

Inspired by the design conception of “Less is More,” the designer uses brief lines and a simple model to integrate practicality and elegance to achieve a concise style, ideal for small, space-precious Taiwanese kitchens.

The design of this automatic sprinkler uses Fluid-Driven Illumination technology: once activated by fire, water flows past the turbine blade to generate electricity instantly to light the LED, which can illuminate as well as act as an emergency visual warning. Without needing battery or wires, this second-generation sprinkler also has an integrated laser projector to show evacuation signs and exit locations, improving survival and chance for rescue.

Not only an eco-friendly traffic light, this cleverly designed light, as the name suggests, replaces the typical triple-light traffic signal by applying multi-color LED technology, enabling one light to display multi-colors. Besides reducing manufacturing cost, this traffic light uses solar power to help the environment and save on power bill.

The design of the NATURE bulb meets demands for eco-friendliness and variable interior lighting. Equipped with innovative T-Tech technology, the Nature bulb uses no adapter but a dimmable light source to enable users to change lighting intensity as desired. The patented heat-dissipating device in the center is durable and tamper-proof. Plus this bulb features 360-degree light output to be either a stand-alone light source or to work as an indoor lamp.

ter, National Taiwan UniversityThe Npant system is a reusable diaper equipped with a wet-diaper sensor and alarm, helping to reduce diaper rash, a significant health advantage, and waste of disposable diapers. Designed to work with booster pads in the current market, the Npant can motivate more nursing homes or hospitals to use booster pads due to relatively lower cost than conventional disposable adult diapers, as well as the advantage of reducing landfill waste for booster pads are smaller, coupled with being eco-friendly for using less material to produce.