DESIGN:The innovative entries in the recent NCAD Sustainable Kitchen Living competition show we have the talent here to create a smart economy

EXTRACTOR hoods that remove toxic gases and give you back oxygen, a water-saving device that doubles up as a family game and a fridge that tells you about the grungy old food lurking at the back were just some of the inventions shown by final-year industrial design students from the NCAD (National College of Art and Design) in an appliance competition recently.

Every project entered into the contest was innovative and well designed, showing that we have the talent here to fulfil politicians’ ambitions to create a smart economy – as long as the funding is available.

The NCAD Sustainable Kitchen Living Competition was sponsored by Miele Ireland, whose CEO Pat McGrath was a judge along with Duncan Stewart and me. This year’s winners – who created a dishwasher that uses minimum water and lets you load and unload dishes without bending to the floor – were given a cheque, as were those who came second – the pair that created the water-saver/family game, and the third-prize winners, who created that grunge-detecting fridge.

Last year’s winners went one better, and got an internship at the Miele headquarters at Gutersloh in Germany where they are now working with the creative team on products of the future.

“I was always taking stuff apart as a child,” says John Costello, who won first prize for a smart kitchen unit that looks at ingredients in food and the energy use of appliances to help make people’s behaviour more planet friendly. “I was more interested in the inside of things than the outside”.

He had no idea there was such a thing as a course in industrial design in Ireland until he found it on Google. “It fitted what I wanted to do. Industrial design is so open. It gives you a base level of understanding in everything. You are always working on projects that can be radically different from the one before. That’s why it’s so good at Miele. There is such a huge range of products that you never get bored. You always jump from one thing to another.”

His partner in the prize-winning project was Ian Slattery who chose to study industrial design because of its mix of creativity and practicality. “For me there was a conflict between choosing a practical course like engineering or architecture and a creative one like fine art: industrial design seemed the perfect compromise.”

Doing projects during the NCAD course with the likes of Miele, Intel and Enterprise Ireland was an invaluable experience, he says. Something they can now expand on: “We’re working on real projects and real problems. It’s great – the sort of experience that you can’t get in college,” says Slattery.

“It’s opened my eyes to the design process,” says Costello. “Every part has to be considered and thought-out. Nothing is there by accident. Here we focus on the technical constraints such as noise and heat dissipation. Things have to be manufacturable and cost-effective.”

“Working on real products and projects has really highlighted the complexity of the design and production process,” says Slattery.

They have found that after the creativity and inspiration at the start of the process there is much honing:

“Most of the work takes place after the initial idea, it is a constant process of refinement and problem solving,” says Costello.

Miele’s slogan is “Immer Besser” (forever better) and its products are made to last for at least 20 years, so what have the duo seen of the future? “Appliances are going to become smarter and communicate with each other and other devices in the home,” says Costello, whose winning project anticipated this.

“We will see more intelligent kitchens,” says Slattery. “Problems such as over-consumption, and energy and water shortages mean that kitchens will have to evolve and adapt to help people cope. I think we will see kitchens that help us limit our negative effect on our environment while also providing us with the levels of convenience we are used to.”

While they have added to their skills and seen the future they won’t be bringing them to Ireland’s smart economy just yet and neither will many of their college friends. “Some of our classmates have gone to New Zealand and others are around Europe,” says Slattery. “There are not so many in Ireland unfortunately.”

And Costello plans to head abroad again, after they return from Germany next month. “There are not too many places to work in, in Ireland.

“There are a few design companies but I think I’d like to go somewhere else even if I could get a job in Ireland.“

In the government document Building a Smart Economyit says: "A key feature . . . is building the innovation or 'ideas' component of the economy through the utilisation of human capital – the knowledge, skills and creativity of people – and its ability and effectiveness in translating ideas into valuable processes, products and services."

All of the students from NCAD have shown that they have the ideas and ability, which companies such as Miele (albeit German based) have recognised – let’s hope this investment in “human capital” expands within Ireland.