A total of 14 of South Africa’s top product designs were awarded SABS Design Excellence Awards at a function held in Sandton recently. The products ranged from high technology to very basic, each with the distinction that it typifies excellent South African design.
Designs spanned a variety of industrial sectors. The majority of the products came from the engineering, mining and machinery category, but innovative homeware, officeware and information technology products also received awards.
Although the product designs are not in competition with one another, the panel of adjudicators annually vote for one product that has grabbed their imagination. This year’s Chairman’s Award winner was the Orga8 and Orga15 Modular Filing System, an eco-friendly office storage solution that can be combined in different ways. The components are made of recycled material and the compact design takes up less space than standard storage units.
The SABS Design Excellence Awards have been presented by the SABS Design Institute for close on 40 years under different names. Entries fall into one of six categories. These are: home and office ware; medical and healthcare; mechanical engineering; electrical engineering; transport and automotive; mining and machinery. There are also awards made in education, leisure, sports goods or toys, the built environment, including components, urban furniture, equipment, tools, as well as electronics, information and communication technology (ICT).
The SABS Design Excellence scheme recognises the achievements of South African product designers, while also encouraging local product design and manufacture, and promoting international competitiveness of local products. This award scheme has established a proud tradition of promoting indigenous design.
In the electrical engineering category, the following products won awards:
Enermax Plus
Strike Technologies’ Enermax Plus is a three-phase energy and demand meter that measures four quadrants of power and energy. It is fully configurable by the user and has a large memory to retain significant amounts of data. Time-of-use metering, powerful data profiling, multifunction inputs and outputs and comprehensive audit facilities are included. Designed by Gerhard Wilsnach, Christo Schutte, Eric Essenwien, Pat Kühn, Richard Franke and Roger Williams.
MES Butterfly range single switch socket outlet
Bardo Consulting Services’ MES Butterfly range single switch socket outlet is used in a domestic environment. The range is manufactured through a plastic injection moulding process and the mould looks like butterfly wings – hence the name. Designed by Robert S.A. Bardo.
Modular traffic light system
The modular traffic light system is a collapsible traffic light that offers very low impact resistance and causes no injuries to motorists and minimal damage to pavements and vehicles on impact. The system requires no maintenance and has a low replacement cost. After an accident, the system can be repaired rapidly and the lights are energy-efficient LEDs. Designed by Barry Geer and XYZ Design.
Wiremate Wizard
The Wiremate Wizard pull cord system uses a double-action manually operated hand pump with transparent adaptors and flexible shuttles to draw pull cord through electrical conduits in seconds. The unit is fully portable and the cord is pulled through the conduit without the use of electrical power. Designed by John Holtzhausen and Hano van Riet.
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