Yesterday, the Brit Insurance Design of the Year award announced that it’s top prize goes to the Plumen 001 low-energy light bulb, by Samuel Wilkinson and product design company Hulger.
A new take on the (traditionally unsightly) low-energy bulb, Wilkinson’s CFL bulb is uncoiled to create distinctive, sculptural forms. “A worthy winner that is both beautiful and smart,” is how Design Museum director Deyan Sudjic characterizes the design. “It does away with the superfluous to achieve maximum economy of means. It’s a bulb that doesn’t need a shade and so goes a long way to make up for the loss of the Edison original.”
Among the shortlisted entries is KARO Architecten‘s open-air library made of beer crates in Magdeburg, Germany, which took the architecture award; the CNC-moulded Branca wooden chair by Industrial Facility for Italian manufacturer Mattiazzi, which was awarded the furniture award; and Barclays Cycle Hire, London’s bicycle share program, which won the transport award.
They’re all on display at the Brit Insurance Design of the Year exhibition, running until August 7 at the Design Museum.
