KAIST

An eco-friendly pot humidifier designed by a KAIST team led by Prof. Sang-Min Bae of the Department of Industrial Design won the G-Mark award at the 2009 Good Design Award, university authorities said on Tuesday (Sept. 29).

The Good Design Award is a Japanese comprehensive design evaluation and commendation system operated by the Japan Industrial Design Promotion Organization (JIDPO). It originated from the Good Design Selection system, known as the "G-Mark System," instituted by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry of Japan in 1957. More than 1,000 companies and designers from 50-odd countries submit about 3,000 entries for consideration for the Good Design Awards each year.

The humidifier controls the indoor humidity by natural vaporization using the tissue ball. The tissue ball is made of honeycomb shaped felt so that it can enhance water absorbing ability with large surface. In the package of the pot, there is a bottle of aroma liquid and people can use it for the fragrances as well as humidification.



The pot, called "Love Pot," was designed for the Nanum (Sharing) Project, a charity activity to establish funds for donations through new products development. International aid organization World Vision, oil company GS Caltex and Prof. Bae"s ID+IM design laboratory have teamed up for the project.

The KAIST team worked for free to design the pot. Profits from the sale of the pots were donated for education programs for low-income households. Among the products made under the Nanum Project was a cross cube MP3 player which won the silver prize at the 2008 International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA).  IDEA is one of the world"s top three design awards along with Germany"s International Forum DEsign Awards and the Red Dot Design Awards.

Prof. Bae"s team also won the "Best of the Best" award at Red Dot last November with the "Roly Poly Pot," a planter that tips to the side when the plant is thirsty.