NEW YORK — In Copenhagen’s quest to be to design what Cannes is to film, the Scandinavian city will be dressing up quaint public squares with creations from its 2005 Index awards.
Presented every four years, the blue ribbons, so to speak, are the world’s largest design and innovation awards, with five Index winners pocketing about $122,000 each. Participants are encouraged to work with engineers, economists, humanitarians and other practical-minded people to devise ways design can solve global problems.
Consider the “lifestraw,” an oversized drinking straw with a filtering system to allow users in developing countries or those faced with natural disasters to drink water from a river or any other bacteria-infested water. Designed by Torben Vestergaard Frandsen, Rob Fleuren and Moshe Frommer of the Vestergaard Frandsen Group, the product will be among the 100-plus items to be displayed Sept. 23 to Nov. 13. Pavilions will be set up in Copenhagen’s public squares next month and will be free and open round-the-clock for seven weeks.
“Our purpose is to improve life for people,” said Index communication director Peter Hentze. “The design is not only tangible, but intangible. It could be a strategy, a service or commodity.”
The “NurseBot,” a robot programmed to help elderly people live independently instead of moving into nursing homes, strives to be all three of those things. The Nursebot would remind its elderly roommate to take his or her medicine at a designated time and would inform the individual about the weather so that they would dress appropriately. The robotic assistant with the ruby red lipstick and blinking eyes was designed by researchers and designers at Carnegie Mellon University’s People & Robots Laboratory, the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Nursing, Stanford University, the University of Michigan and the Art Institute of Pittsburgh.
Molo Design’s Stephanie Forsythe and Todd MacAllen concocted “softwall,” a two-inch-wide partition made of recycled materials that stretches to 25 feet. Aside from providing instant privacy, the wall also absorbs sounds.
Another of this year’s more unusual submissions is “Siyathemba,” a Web-based competition hosted by Architecture for Humanity. It invites designers and architects to present proposals for a combined soccer field and health care facility for the South African community of Somkhele in KwaZulu-Natal, an area with one of the world’s highest HIV/AIDS rates. Learning about AIDS would be mandatory for children interested in playing soccer, Hentze said.
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The Index awards exhibition will feature work from all five categories: body, home, community, work and play. Another exhibition, “Futures Scenario,” will be staged in Copenhagen’s Town Square, showcasing the work of design students from China, India, the United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Chile, the U.S. and Denmark.
Creative leaders will descend on Copenhagen next month for the Index: Views Summit, a three-day brainstorming session that will result in a catalogue of suggestions for new products, services and strategies that will be made available to any interested party without any fee.
Samsung head of design Joong Yeal Choi, The Arlington Institute’s president John Peterson, Fast Company founder Alan Webber, LEGO chief executive officer Jorgen Vig Knudstorp, architect Ron Pompeii and other heavy hitters will have some company from the fashion world. Old Navy’s head of design, Ivy Ross, and Levi Strauss Asia Pacific president John Andersson are on the guest list.