By Craig Zammit

SYDNEY: Ths shortlist for the Dyson Student Award, which will again be hosted by the 2007 Australian Design Awards, has been revealed with the winners announced on Friday 11 May at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne.

“The creativity of this year’s entrants is astounding – future generations of Australians will benefit enormously from their bright minds,” said Australian Design Awards manager, Stephanie Watson, of the unique and sophisticated designs picked out this year.

With a commitment to developing and promoting young Australian designers, the Australian Design Award – Dyson Student Award assists students to reach the next stage of their career path and helps propel them into the product design arena.

Dyson Australia managing director, Ross Cameron, said unlike other awards programs, the Australian Design Award – Dyson Student Award has an open brief.

“We leave it to the students to delve into their own life experiences and develop an entry they believe can really make a difference,” said Cameron.

Tom Curlewis’ ‘Friendly Foot Heater’, represents just one of the innovative designs being paraded for the Dyson Student Award.

The Friendly Foot Heater is designed as an alternative to small electric fan and column heaters, offering greater safety and efficiency in personal heating. 

“I was sick of trying to heat up my work space with a 2,000-watt column heater, when all I really needed was a bit of heat for my feet,” Curlewis said.

Users can directly place their feet on to the Friendly Foot Heater disc and utilise the low watt element for cost efficient heating, while the motion sensors allow the unit to switch on only when being used. 

Other entries include two environmentally-friendly lawnmowers. Frank Deveson’s ‘Hybrid’ is a manual/electric reel lawnmower-fusion with torque sensing electric boost and a solar charged battery, while Ashley Marsh-Croft’s ‘Droplet’ lawnmower is constructed wholly from recycled plastic and snap-fits to reduce environmental impact and can run from a solar power generator.