The International Housewares Association (IHA) has announced the winners of the 30th annual Student Design Competition which challenges college students to redesign a current housewares product to meet the needs of the future or create a concept for a new product.
Sponsored this year by Procter & Gamble, the competition selects winning products based on their innovation, understanding of production and marketing principles and quality of entry materials. This year’s winners include a breast pump washing basin for moms on the go; a yarn storage system for crafters; a produce keeper and ripener; a plant watering system; a tactile safety system for the visually impaired; and a coffee grounds storage and recycling system.
The winning industrial design students and their products will be on display during The Inspired Home Show 2023, IHA’s global home + housewares marketplace, March 4-7 at Chicago’s McCormick Place.
Katherine Gaylord, a junior at the University of Notre Dame, received first place and $3,500 for Stack, a breast pump drying rack for the breast pump pieces. It helps nursing mothers who pump at work or in public restrooms to safely, easily and discreetly wash, dry and store breast pump equipment. “Stack is a clear winner because Katherine saw the many complications that mothers face with breast milk pumping and developed an all-integrated product,” said competition judge Amanda Bolton of Procter & Gamble. “Her design is visually beautiful, calming, inviting and a great example of human-centered innovation.”
Two students will be honored with second-place awards of $2,300 each: Alicja Ramotowski, a senior from the University of Notre Dame, for SPIN, a home yarn dispenser and storage solution, and Austin Liebgott, a junior from Appalachian State University for Alma, a produce keeper and ripener.
Three students will share third place and each will receive a $1,000 prize: Planted, by Aiden C. Schutte, junior at Western Michigan University, helps inexperienced or time-crunched plant owners maintain healthy plants and a desired aesthetic in the home; Chi, by Charlotte Brittain, senior at the Cleveland Institute of Art, is a tactile safety system for the visually impaired, providing invisible hazard awareness; and GROUND, from Augustine Curran-Muñoz, a Purdue University senior, is a coffee grounds storage system that promotes recycling of used grounds by storing and heat-treating them for future fertilizer use.
Six projects merited an honorable mention and their designers and will receive $250 each:
- Ian Allard, junior at Kendall College of Art and Design, for CircL, an assisted composter.
- Haleigh Esene, senior at the University of Houston, for Knot, a re-designed kettlebell.
- Sydney Florine, senior at the University of Notre Dame, for Tube, a bird feeder for senior citizens.
- Yuanxiang E Huang, junior at Western Washington University, for Sol, a sunrise alarm.
- Anna Lorino, junior at Western Michigan University, for SafeSteam, a steam iron for people with visual impairments.
- Ray McVicker, junior at Western Washington University, for Glo Charcoal Grill.
Since 1993, more than 6,500 entries have been submitted to the rigorous competition, which honors excellent design as well as communications skills. Winners have launched successful careers in the housewares and design industries and have returned to judge other student contestants.
This year’s winners were selected by a panel of 14 judges, including six past Student Design Competition winners whose honors led to successful industrial design careers. 2015 winner Evan Cincotta, head of design, Susteau, New York; Chris Cunningham, Cunningham Design, Chicago; 1995 winner Robert Giacolo, new product development program manager, Transcendia, Naperville, Ill.; Carly Hagins, associate professor, Product Design, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo; 2010 winner Teddy Lu, creative director, VEO Chicago, Chicago; 2018 winner Anastasia Miller, senior industrial designer, Doris Dev, Brooklyn, NY; 1996 winner Jennifer Nemec, principal & founder, Ideation Studio, Chicago; David Richter-O’Connell, assistant professor, Industrial Design, University of Wisconsin – Stout, Menomonie; Kimberlee Wilkens, director, BDes in Industrial Design and assistant professor, Industrial Design, University of Illinois at Chicago; James Rudolph, co-founder and program manager, Rudolph Design Studio, St. Joseph, Mich.; Michael Patton, design manager, Home & Wellness, Newell Brands, Kalamazoo, Mich.; Yashodhan Dhuru, senior design director, Procter & Gamble, Cincinnati, Ohio; Kyra Wilsonhouck, design director, Procter & Gamble; 2013 winner Amanda Bolton, senior innovation designer, Procter & Gamble.
