Oliver Bowen from Pembroke has been celebrating recently after winning the Brabantia Design Award - a competition devised to find the 'kitchen bin of the future'. The project was part of the Product Design programme at the University of the West of England (UWE) where third year student, Oliver is studying. As part of the prize, Oliver recently visited Brabantia's factory and new product development centre in The Netherlands, along with his two team members. The winning design won the judges' approval for utilising a new technology to help minimise the smell of domestic waste, while also making the emptying of a full bin much easier. Brabantia sales director, David Slater said: "Product design is very important to us as we continually strive to combine functionality, durability and style. We were extremely impressed with the designs the students presented and the depth to which they had researched the kitchen waste market. They really got to the core of some of the issues, developed an excellent solution to meet real consumer needs, and achieved a very high standard of product design." All the students had their work reviewed halfway through the design process by Brabantia's waste category manager David Cornelis, who offered guidance to help them develop their ideas further. The final presentations were reviewed by Brabantia brand manager, Bart van Elderen. UWE programme director, Tod Burton, said: "This has been a very successful project and our students have had first-hand experience of presenting professionally to the managers of a well- established brand. All the students have benefited, and the winners received a much deeper insight into new product development and manufacturing by visiting the factory."
