“To re-source is to re-generate, re-energize, re-mix and re-lax,” says Bruno Lizotte, Design Manager at Electrolux, “and the appropriate space for this multi-tasking is, more than ever before, the home and its vibrant centre – the kitchen.”

The ReSource concepts include sustainable thinking and cultural reference points – both of which are increasingly important issues for product design as our planet’s resources disappear and our changing habits and lifestyles are fed by multi-cultural influences in our quest for novelty.

“This was a true collaboration, not just teaching,” says Lizotte who tutored the students, reviewing their work and giving them feedback. “The impressive response shows a dynamic way of looking at appliance design, offering novel solutions for the kitchen environment.”

1: KEWA (Kinetic Efficient Water Appliance) by Pietro Russomanno, Italy

KEWA is a an air pressure cleaner that saves water, time, and energy. Water is directed through kinetic jets to create a ‘water-blade’ capable of cleaning a single plate or pan in one sole stroke. There is also a hand-held cleaner to remove anything that may have been left on the plate or cooking vessel in advance.

2: Aeolus by Chi Rong Hsu, Taiwan

Extraction Meets Storage – AEOLUS is an extractor fan that efficiently removes odours from the entirety of a room. Chi Rong Hsu was specifically looking for a response to manage wok cooking within an enclosed space but this solution is applicable in many scenarios and maximises space by accommodating utensils and assorted tools that can be hung from the frame. Simple, smart and effective!

3: CLEAiR by Ariadna Tellez Rossell, Mexico

CLEAiR is an air purifier that provides automatic status updates about the condition of air in your home providing a cleaner and healthier place to live. The three separate table mounted cleaners (shown above) can also be used for general cleaning in a hand-held position.

4: Breathe by Beyza Dogan, Turkey

Breathe is a living kitchen appliance that literally ‘breathes in’ air pollutants through ionization. A clean kitchen environment is complemented by ambient light that follows the natural cycle of the day making the appliance visually appealing and providing a sense of harmony in the home.

5: Jumble by Zahira Ivelisse Crespo, Puerto Rico

Induction cooking with a twist – Jumble is a flexible set of induction cooking plates that allows easy transfer of cooking vessels to different temperate zones. A remote control operates the three cooking zones and frees up valuable counter space.

6: Wine by Jung Kun Choi, South Korea

‘Wine’ brings an aesthetic dimension to wine collection and storage. The wall mounted showcase displays the bottles whilst maintaining their optimal temperature. There is also a cabinet to chill and store suitable foods served as a part of the taste experience.

7: Celcius by Marcela Vanesa Céspedes, Argentina

Celcius – Recycling Kitchen Waste. Celcius is a kitchen waste disposal and recycling appliance. Enzymes break down organic waste creating energy that is sent to containers linked by conductive pipes that can be used to heat small appliances in the home.

8: Chefiamo by Jervis Chua, Hong Kong

‘Chefiamo’ is a virtual cook book that assists, guides, inspires and maintains cooking traditions through the projection of recipes. A hologram, programmed to appear like a friend or relative is projected on to a counter top to help you through the cooking process, making it easier to recreate mum’s special recipes. An interactive glove measures progress e.g. weight of ingredients and facilitates updates.

9: Fulcrum by Surbhi Singhal, India

Fulcrum is a modular system of furniture and kitchen appliance. As it is fully adaptable to your space (it can be built up as necessary) it allows you to store, cook and eat no matter the size of your living space.

The aim is to create an experience that surprises and inspires with fantastic tastes, gastronomic hints and tips from some of the world’s greatest chefs – supported by Electrolux as the provider of professional kitchen appliances, and never-before-seen views, ultimately stimulating guests to explore their own creative boundaries next time they entertain friends or family at home.

Two Electrolux Cube’s will travel across Europe offering a memorable dining experience for 18 guests per setting in magnificent locations. The transparent and semi-transparent structures will be seen atop of monuments, buildings and even water platforms in Belgium, Italy, Russia, Switzerland and Sweden but only for three months at each location.

The Cube by Electrolux will feature a different hand-picked resident chef at each venue and will offer tailor-made recipes using locally sourced ingredients and all prepared on state-of-the-art Electrolux appliances. The chefs confirmed in Brussels, Bart de Pooter and Sang-Hoon Degeimbre both have 2 Michelin Stars and will rotate every two weeks.

When guests first arrive the 140sqm space will be open for entertaining and some great sight seeing, especially from the external platform. When dinner is served the concealed dining table will drop from the ceiling so as to sit the 18 guests before being raised again for after dinner drinks and mingling.

Wonderful Shows and Events
The kitchen will be on display within the centre of each Electrolux Cube with chefs working on show to share their skills and explain why and how they use certain techniques. The chef will form an integral part of the event and provide an atmosphere more akin to cooking with friends than attending a traditional restaurant. Ambience will be controlled by the latest systems to ensure the most appropriate moods for each dining occasion.

Additionally, a series of special events will be offered to guests that marry fashion, music and taste. The tailored events will change in each venue to further enhance the special experience offered within the Cube.

Book Your Special Electrolux Cube Experience
The Cube by Electrolux will offer meals twice a day, everyday for three months in each location – lunch between 12:30-15:00 and dinner from 18:00 to 23:00 during the week and special brunch and dinner times at the weekend. Booking can be made on-line for the Belgium Cube at www.electrolux.com/cube ]]> http://www.electroluxdesignlab.com/2011/04/the-cube-by-electrolux-pops-up-in-brussels-belgium/feed/ 8 http://www.electroluxdesignlab.com/2011/02/cooking-mobility-influenced-by-mongolian-warriors/ http://www.electroluxdesignlab.com/2011/02/cooking-mobility-influenced-by-mongolian-warriors/#comments Mon, 21 Feb 2011 16:05:12 +0000 admin http://www.electroluxdesignlab.com/?p=2938 Steamboat, also known as ‘hot pot’ or ‘Chinese fondue’, refers to a method for cooking several East Asian varieties of stew. At the heart of the process is a simmering metal pot of stock that is placed in the centre of a dining table. While the steamboat is kept simmering, ingredients are placed into the pot and are cooked at the table.

This type of dining can be traced back 1,000 years to the northern nomadic Mongolian tribes, when warriors used their helmets as the cooking pot and steamed meats and vegetables in them. Imperial chefs in the middle of the 17th century used to prepare steamboat meals for the Qing Dynasty rulers too. It’s come a long way since then, but today the steps are relatively the same. Minus the helmet of course.

The Electrolux Portable Induction Hob in red, gold and silver (left to right)

If you’ve ever had a steamboat buffet, you will know that there is usually a period of time (sometimes exceeding the limits of your patience and hunger) before the pot starts to boil. You want to tuck in straight away, but the steamboat isn’t about to be rushed. Much gnashing of teeth and growling stomachs ensue, before the pot is finally ready for cooking.

However, the Electrolux Portable Induction Cooker is an easier way of organising a good steamboat. Induction cooking technology generates rapid heat to the base of the pot, allowing you to cook instantaneously. It does so by automatically detecting the presence of the magnetic cookware, activates the induction field and then adjusts it to the exact size of the pot. Turn it on and tuck in right away!

Simple to use and with no installation required, the cooker allows you to cook almost anywhere with access to a socket. It even has a keep-warm setting that helps you maintain your steamboat (or other food) at optimal serving temperature at all times. It’s even got a time-setting system that ensures that your food is done just right.

Additionally, induction cooking is safer than an electric or gas alternative. The Electrolux Portable Induction Cooker will only ever create heat when the magnetic field is completed – all other areas of the cooker stay cool.

Any steamboat worthy of the name will usually see a few spills here and there but cleaning up afterwards is easy. The induction cooker has a completely flat and smooth surface so just give it a good wipe down and it’s ready for round two!

Welcome to the stand! On the white desk you might just spot the Electrolux Aurora induction hob.

Up close and personal with the Electrolux Induction Hob.

The Electrolux RealLife Dishwasher proves a draw for all ages…

As did the Electrolux Design Lab concepts!

Of the included design concepts, many were designed by previous Electrolux Design Lab participants. You can check out the 48 creations here or simply click on the image above. ]]> http://www.electroluxdesignlab.com/2011/01/trend-hunters-guide-to-48-electrolux-creations/feed/ 3 http://www.electroluxdesignlab.com/2010/12/induction-cooking-all-the-gain-without-the-flame/ http://www.electroluxdesignlab.com/2010/12/induction-cooking-all-the-gain-without-the-flame/#comments Wed, 01 Dec 2010 10:39:22 +0000 admin http://www.electroluxdesignlab.com/?p=2760 Here’s a fun fact – did you know that induction hobs only generate heat when a suitable cooking vessel (made of ferromagnetic material) is put on top of it? No, it’s not cooking via magic, but a clever piece of engineering that creates an electromagnetic field when a pot or pan is placed on the hob to complete a circuit. It’s like a science experiment – the only difference is you can actually eat (in most cases) the results.

More people are choosing induction cooking technology these days and the reasons for doing so are quite simple: induction hobs are easy to clean, save energy, and are safer.

If you love to cook and cook often, you will understandably dread the washing up that follows. If you cook with gas then every so often you may get bits of ingredients stuck in the grills, or condiments and sauces splattered around the hob. In these circumstances most people will eat their meal first, wait till the gas-hob has cooled down (after an hour or so), and then proceed to clean up. However, cleaning an induction hob is almost effortless, simply because it has a flat and smooth surface. The residue heat from the pot or pan left on the induction hob cools down in mere seconds, enabling you to clean as you go.

As the induction hob is flameless the smooth ceramic surface remains safe to touch even when the pan or pot is hot. Best of all, it is equipped with an auto-off safety feature, that switches off when there are no pots or pans on it.

Energy savings are perhaps the most compelling reason for making the switch to induction – 20% more energy-efficient than a ceramic cooktop, and a whopping 40% more energy-efficient than a solid hotplate cooktop. This means that you can treat your family and friends with sumptuous food, and do your part for the environment as well!

Induction Cooking Christmas Tips
Vladimir Niza, a chef at the Daylesford Organic Cookery School in England is a regular user of induction cooking and has some suggestions that have been trialed on his induction hob for those of you looking for Christmas food inspiration:

Cranberry Sauce
For perfect cranberry sauce that isn’t too sharp, don’t overdo the sugar; instead add the zest and juice of a very juicy orange. The faster you cook the fresh cranberries the more nutrients, colours and fragrance you will retain, induction hobs are Vladimir’s first choice for fast cooking.

Honey Glazed Carrots
You can roast carrots on an induction hob with butter and glazed honey freeing your oven for the longer necessary roasting of dishes such as turkey or goose.

“To re-source oneself is to re-generate, re-energize, re-mix and re-lax,” says Bruno Lizotte, Design Manager of accounts at Electrolux, “and the appropriate space for this multi-tasking is, more than ever before, the home and its vibrant centre – the kitchen.”

The students also need to weave sustainability and culture into their work. Both are increasingly important issues for product design as our planet’s resources disappear and our changing habits and lifestyles are fed by multi-cultural influences and our quest for novelty.

The design concepts must be based on currently available technology, not what might be available in the future. The students will use a mix of material from the Academy and Electrolux.

“It’s a true collaboration not just teaching,” says Bruno Lizotte who will tutor ten international industrial design students – reviewing their work and giving them feedback. “The initial study already shows a dynamic new way of looking at our industry and promises novel solutions for the kitchen environment.” The students will deliver their projects in late November and we’ll share the results right here.

A two-sided collaboration
“As a designer myself, my role is to support and help the students based on my experience as a professional designer and the insights I have gathered from two decades in this industry. But it also goes the other way. I expect the students will show us fresh new ways of approaching our everyday tasks.”

The students are a very international mix from Argentina, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Italy, Turkey, India, Taiwan, China, South Korea and Hong Kong.

Further academic collaborations
Besides the Domus Academy collaboration, the Electrolux Design team is currently participating in a similar project with the Interaction Design Masters Program at the Umeå Institute of Design in Sweden, focusing on user experience.

Above:example of a traditional shophouse exterior by Nanoucoco for www.travelpod.com.

“Every house and every space is unique and you will have to work with the opportunities you have. We have bought a heritage house, being a traditional Singaporean “Shophouse“, so to start we have to work with a long narrow building which offers some limitation in space.”

“Traditionally ‘’shophouses” have three connected rooms on the first floor. You enter the living room, then in the middle the dining room and finally in the back, you have the kitchen.

“The kitchen is a really dynamic part of our house. This is where we all come together, either it’s around food, drinks, entertainment, work or just having a good chat. For all these different activities to happen concurrently, you need a rather big kitchen and the design of the kitchen should be well integrated with the rest of the living space.

We decided to turn it around so that one enters through the dining room, (and longest room in the house), where we will be able to fit a large dining table to seat eight people comfortably. Then in the back, we will have the living room – where more light enters the house, with the kitchen in the middle. This is the smallest space, but it allows for a nice integration with the living room, connecting the two major living spaces and placing the kitchen in the heart of the home.”

“It may not be as big as we would like it be, but it has been a nice challenge to create a design that makes the most of the space we’ve allocated, considering work flow and living space. We cook at home a lot so I want a beautiful and practical solution, but I have to admit that the aesthetics have been a strong driver of the design.

We also knew the overall style that we wanted and I must say that there are not a lot of suppliers in Singapore that could do what we were after and I am very happy that we found a partner in Vivant Concept & Contracts.”

“I believe any great kitchen design starts with an understanding of the appliances you want. We centred the design around the Electrolux 900 mm MaxiSense Induction hob. It’s an amazing product (above) and the long narrow format with three burners in a row is both practical and yet aesthetically very pleasing. With a black glass hob, we selected a dark grey quartz stone as working surface to keep the contrast down. The Electrolux T-shaped style stainless steel hood is an elegant yet simple design that will be integrated with an extended stainless steel shelf and to put less emphasis on the chimney, this will be covered in black wood panels.

The refrigerator and freezer, both also from Electrolux, are built-in and integrated with the doors of the kitchen cabinets, which are in matte crystal glass with white background. The Microwave and the Electrolux Pyrolytic Oven go in the wall between the fridge and the freezer behind an aluminium shutter (shelter) door. This way, we can choose when we want it one way or the other”.

“Additionally, for me, there are some must-have features such as a standing height table top, a computer to browse the web and enough space for people to work together or just sit and watch while others work. The light needs to be flexible, ranging from practical to ambient, allowing different applications.”

© Vivant Concept & Contracts

“This is very much our dream (my husband’s and mine) coming to life and it’s part of the expression of our house and how we want to socialise with families and friends.”

Imagery from the exhibition, an explainationary video and more detail about the Moléculaire follows.

Design Lab 2009 finalist Nico Kläber took the marriage of science and cooking to a new level with his ‘Moléculaire’ concept submission. The Moléculaire is influenced by chefs that scientifically and painstakingly experiment with food and their states to surprise and provoke fresh ideas in cooking. The Moléculaire simplifies a process that currently requires great skill, time and knowledge by acting as a cnc-food-printer for both professional and domestic kitchens. It autonomously prepares basic and otherwise difficult to create two and three dimensional parts of meals. It works with a layer by layer printing process using small particles from diverse ingredients. The aim of the concept is to provide simplicity, accuracy, repeatability and, of course, great tasting food!

Eco-sense
Sustainability and green issues were a hot topic with a number of manufacturers taking a greener approach by addressing issues like sustainable materials, energy saving, carbon footprint and manufacturing practices.

Reveal and Conceal
A number of kitchens were based on concealment, with generous worktops alongside spacious tall units. Sliding fronts revealed kitchen appliances, shelving and well-planned storage options.

These kitchens had a sleek and subtle design allowing homeowners to reduce, or even eliminate, hanging wall units and handles, transforming the kitchen in to a refined extension of the living room. There was also a shift from a completely minimalistic design to softer aesthetics.

Living Spaces

Authenticity
The revival of authentic wood is still evident, and is cleverly combined with stainless steel, glass quartz, marble, Corian and laminate. The wood provides a premium feeling, being veined and either dark or very light. There were also a lot of rough structured surfaces providing authentic beauty.

Glass
Glass was also widely used on countertops, door fronts, drawers and shelves with etched, satin and silver mirror finishes and colored tints.

Colour
An abundance of whites, off-whites, brown/greys and dark brown tones were seen. There were also some vivid primary hues – the continued use of red and emerging mid-tones such as turquoise, acidic yellow, fuchsia and violet.

Light
White and colored LED lighting was used extensively: semi-visable on tabletops; under shelves; or hidden inside door fronts and drawers.

The Kitchen as the Heart of the Home
Today’s kitchen is a place for socializing, interacting, entertaining and cooking and plays a truly important role in modern homes. Many kitchen layouts shown at Eurocucina were based on a central working island combined with tall wall units and had a layout that allow the kitchen to be used in different ways.