Cass student shortlisted for major national award
31st March 2009
A student at London Met’s Sir John Cass Department of Art, Media and Design was recently shortlisted for a prestigious RSA Design Directions award thanks to her ingenious hi-tech sustainable design ideas.
Ana Rico Robles, a second year student on the BA Graphic Design course is one of seven students shortlisted for her response to a brief entitled A changing world, products and services for a sustainable future. Participants were asked to imagine the sustainable products and services they believe will be in use in everyday life in 2025. The project asked for design outcomes in two market themes, Personal Care and Surface Covering.
Ana’s response to the personal care brief was an innovative hair
brush that can clean hair without the need for water. Talking about the
design, Ana said, ‘I found that most women wash their hair almost every
day, wasting water and leaving water pollutants behind. My idea is a
brush which works using nano-fibres (nanotechnology) to absorb oils and repel dirt.’
Her surface covering idea is a system which uses energy created by
office workers’ foot movements to create a colourful workspace.
‘Research shows that decoration and colours can have a positive effect
on workers,’ Ana explains. ‘My system uses energy harvested from
movement created by workers walking on the carpet to power lights which
are projected onto the walls. Kinetic energy is transformed into
electric energy thanks to ‘piezoelectric technology'- the ability of some materials to generate electric potential in response to applied mechanical stress.’
Michael Upton, Academic Leader at The Cass said, ‘We are delighted with this news. To be short-listed for this award is a fantastic achievement in its own right, especially given the complexity of the brief which would challenge even the most experienced product designers.'