Winners in Brazil's inaugural version of the International Design Excellence Awards included a variety of products with plastics content.
Objeto Brasil, a São Paulo-based design group, organized the single-country IDEA/Brasil competition with cooperation from Industrial Designers Society of America in Dulles, Va.
Among the winners:
c A gold award recognized the design of a semi-automatic SuperPop washing machine from Mueller Eletrodomesticos SA of Timbó.
Chelles & Hayashi Design Ltda. of São Paulo created the concept, which uses 8.8 pounds less raw materials than conventional machines, according to the developers.
Mueller produces the SuperPop's injection molded parts with polypropylene and makes a transmission belt with Santoprene at its plant in Timbó.
Mueller has sold the inexpensive machine in Brazil for two years. Its sales have increased steadily during the past year and sells for 249 Brazilian reais (US$153).
The machine weighs less than 15 pounds, and is designed for disassembly and storage. A consumer can carry a SuperPop home in a small box.
c Renata Moura Design of Joinville, Brazil, created a rotomolded polyethylene goma stool, or side table, for Freso Ltda. of São Jose dos Pinhais, Brazil, a supplier of children's play, sports and learning equipment.
Winner of a bronze award, the unit is priced at 198 Brazilian reais (US$122) and available with an inner light socket for use as a floor lamp.
c Heloisa Crocco of Porto Alegre, Brazil, designed the Next Bag — using injection molded PP — as a 25th anniversary exclusive for resin processor Coza Utilidades Plasticas Ltda. of Caxias do Sul, Brazil. The handbag, which won a bronze award, can function as a personal accessory, shopping bag or magazine holder. The price: 50 Brazilian reais (US$31).
c Using a new method for recycling Tetra Pak cartons, four students at the Universidade do Estado do Para in Belem, Brazil, won a bronze for sustainable purses in a project held in conjunction with the Association of Recyclable Waste Collectors of Aura, Brazil. Each purse costs 150 Brazilian reais (US$92).
The students are Clarisse Fonseca Chagas, Ana Verena Pedroso Botelho de França, Naila Ferreira Rodrigues and Mariana de Freitas Oliveira.
Objeto Brazil named the winners — 23 gold, seven silver and 22 bronze — in a May ceremony in São Paulo. The competition drew 343 entries. Winners in the Brazil event were entered in IDSA's 2008 IDEA competition, which BusinessWeek magazine sponsored.