Design Award

I am posting this without comment, but will be interested to see what the forum thinks about it: **LINK**

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/terence-conran-conran-shop-norman-foster-the-conran-shop-kingston-university-b951113.html

MichaelG.

If it had a bottom rung it would be more useful, stiffer, and could double up as a crutch.

Great for dusting/painting the ceiling near the walls but useless once away from the wall for support. So then its back to a hop up to complete the job so why get one in the first place when one has a hop up? Could be used as a wishbone for tug of war teams Christmas outings. Might be useful as library steps but doesn't look that stable, health & safety wouldn't like it, especially if you have an armful of books to shelve but then libraries have purpose built stable moveable steps already.

Window cleaners often use short triangular shaped ladders, to access higher windows, with a few steps. This just looks like a cut down fancy version of one of these, no doubt with a very fancy price tag. So in no way something new but just a copy of an existing piece of equipment.

Cynical rant over.

Martin W

Edited By Martin W on 18/08/2021 00:57:34

It really was a crutch but now with the shoulder support removed.

Emgee

Nice to see Britain leading the world with cutting edge innovation

The runner up was a round piece of wood with a hole in the middle called a wheel

At least the student got a "Step up in life". But I am not sure what the design committee were thinking!

Second place went to the chocolate teapot

Not at all sure that that was "worth" as much as 40 grand even as a design prize, but I wish him all good luck for future efforts. Maybe he will get to design an even better version of the Dyson or anything else that makes him millions.

There are some much lesser designs around that I find really annoying, e.g., the plastic pepper pot with holes too big so you shake more than is needed. Great for producer as the sooner pot is empty, sooner back to shop to buy more. An even worse re- design of a plastic dispenser pot for sweeteners, where it either releases 2 tabs at once or it jams and breaks the tab. Either way, wasted goods, good for trade. My thoughts on the subject are absolutely unprintable.

Good idea in principle, but very frequently when using steps there isn't a handy vertical surface to prop this against - for example reaching a high shelf in a floor to ceiling cupboard.

I've just invented a strong bucket that not only can be used for carrying liquids as well as solids but when turned upside down can assist height challenged people. It’s very much an improvement on my previous effort of designing an item I call a chair that could double as a step or a seat but failed miserably as a liquid carry article.

I'm working on the bucket seat...

pgk

Edited By pgk pgk on 18/08/2021 09:45:05

Was this delayed from 1st April as a result of C19 ?

Pretty but terribly impractical. Much like the Design Council in my view

Why do so many model engineers knock anything that does not conform to the norm? I think it is a nice elegant piece of design, that has a practical use and if that is the value of the prize good on him, because it will pay off a huge amount of his university debt. Remember we are talking here about product design (he will probably go onto to design white goods) not mechanical design which is a whole different ballpark.

Surely a projecting handle at the top would be a worthwhile improvement. otherwise one would have to touch the wall to steady ones self. You would have the other hand free.

Me too! The ladder has a huge advantage - unlike any of my Aluminium monstrosities it doesn't look out of place propped up against the wall in an average room. It will sell like hot-cakes...

Dave

Looks pretty, but as a practical step / ladder, pretty useless.

Andrew.

I use a one step ladder often.It can be used in the middle of a room as well. It has another name though. Chair.

regards

But have you considered the H&S aspects..

pgk