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Design Stars: Student's Award Success

Article released: Wednesday, 09 February, 2005

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The outstanding conceptual innovation of two COFA students, Eric Steigerwalt and Trent Jansen, has been recognised in the IDEA 2004 Concept Design Awards. Eric Steigerwalt's Plyber Seat was selected as the winner of this prestigious award for Australia's best design concept and Trent Jansen was nominated as runner-up, his Sign Stool having previously been awarded Object Gallery's 2004 New Design Award.

Children's and adult games provided Steigerwalt's inspiration for Plyber Seat: modular stools distinguished by a seat comprised of colourful rubber balls that can be detached, then mixed and matched.  Constructed from Australian Hoop pine and silicone rubber, these triangular seats are designed to invite active interaction: to be touched, changed and played with by their users.

A commitment to sustainable design production informed Trent Jansen's development of Sign Stool.  Constructed from discarded motorway signs, these stools interlock and easily transform from seats into modular storage units. The aluminium signs are left replete with the markings of their previous roadside existence, the colourful vinyl labels becoming a central design feature.  Jansen's re-use of this material saves it from contributing to a destruction process that generates toxic gases and solid by-products.
 
Similar to Eric Steigerwalt, Trent Jansen was also influenced by the experience of childhood games, and in particular, the playful building engendered by Lego.   This shared inspiration of games and play draws attention to an attitude towards design that celebrates and seeks fun and creative interactions between objects and viewers: both designers producing furniture, which through its use, continues to generate creative encounters.