By Craig Zammit & Sarah Falson
MELBOURNE: The finalists for the prestigious national awards program for product design, the Australian Design Awards, were announced today with Breville and Sunbeam contributing six of the final 10 products which will now battle it out for a Design Award.
Three products from each of the small appliance-makers will now go head-to-head, and the winners will be announce at the Australian Design Awards on Friday 11 May and the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne.
Five Sunbeam products this year made it through the the shortlist, with the Sunbeam Ceramic series kettle, Sunbeam EM0450 conical burr coffee grinder, Sunbeam Accura Digital Resilium SR6900 iron making it through to the finals. The Sunbeam IS6800 Avalanche Ice Shaver and the Sunbeam PB 7950 MultiBlender Electronic, both of which were shortlisted, didn’t make it through to the finals.
All three Breville products which were shortlisted made it through to the finals, including the Breville BJE510 iKon juicer, Breville BES400 iKon espresso machine and the Breville BBL600 iKon blender.
Last year, Breville’s BJE200 Juicer won its second Australian Design Award in a row, knocking out Sunbeam;s EM6900 Twin Thermoblock Espresso Machine. Before this result, Sunbeam appeared to have the upper hand with five shortlisted appliances to Breville’s three, however only Sunbeam’s EM6900 made it through to the final round of judging.
In 2005, both Breville and Sunbeam enjoyed success with the Breville 800 Class Citrus Press and the Sunbeam Café Series Toaster both picking up Design Awards.
The finalist list this year also includes the Rode Podcaster, Demain DT Series cordless drill, QuickSmart easy fold stroller, the Rimm clever peg and the Philips digital photo display.
Whoever wins a Design Award will be able to display the coveted logo on their product for a year. All the finalists are now able to display a Design Mark logo on their products.