The 100 Latest and Most Practical Home Designs of 2018, This Is the Future

A few days ago, the 2018 Japan Good Design Award and Good Design Best 100 were finalised.

As one of the world's four major design awards,

Good Design is less well known than the Red Dot Award and the iF Award from Germany,

but it places more emphasis on "user experience and practicality."

More than 10% of this year's winning entries came from China.

(Mainland China 6%, Taiwan, China 5%, Hong Kong, China 0.5%.)

Today Fox will first introduce some of the more desirable products among them,

though it should be noted that

many of the Best Design products are somewhat ahead of the market.

For example, Dyson's hair dryer was in the 2016 BEST100,

but even now, it will still be a long time before it becomes widespread.

(Some of the Best100 are not suited to China's conditions, or are not household items,

and some of what Fox introduces below are only Good Design Award products,

among which those in the Best100 are specially noted)

Great Items Designed for Busy Office Workers

BEST100: 9 Degrees Cooking Bowl and Plate (not yet launched in China)

Many office workers have had this experience:

coming home every night exhausted to death,

sometimes just reheating leftovers kept in a storage container in the fridge,

and then putting them on the table and digging in.

Never mind that the storage container looks ugly,

the fact that plastic absorbs oil alone makes it unhealthy.

The highlight of the 9 Degrees Cooking Bowl and Plate is that it can go from fridge to dining table using just one bowl:

the 9 Degrees shape makes it easy to stack in the fridge,

the heat-resistant resin material is suitable for the microwave,

and in the end it also looks good enough to serve at the table.

BEST100: CADDY Cable Storage Box (not yet launched in China)

How do you store your data cables and chargers?

Fox uses zipper bags (wrote about this before),

but that way they can only be put away in a drawer,

and actually taking them out is not particularly convenient.

The highlight of this cable storage box is its material of stone powder plus resin,

which gives it a retro look that blends into home decor.

The interior can be adjusted into 4 compartments for storing data cables,

or adjusted into 2 compartments for storing chargers.

BenQ Smart Reading ScreenBar Monitor Light (899 yuan)

For office workers, a desk lamp is now a rather awkward thing to have:

if you say it is useful, it takes up a corner of the computer desk and brings hard-to-store cables;

if you say it is useless, when you really want to read a bit it is indeed inconvenient without one.

Taiwan, China's BenQ ScreenBar

just needs to be hung on the monitor and connected via USB,

without taking up desktop space.

And it has an automatic dimming function that intelligently monitors desktop brightness.

Toray Water Filter Pitcher (previous generation 399 yuan)

Fox's family has used the German BRITA water filter pitcher,

which not only filters rather slowly,

but most importantly, after filtering you still have to pour the water into another cold water pitcher.

The highlight of the Toray water filter pitcher is that it is only the size of a milk carton,

after filtering it can go straight into the fridge,

filtering 1L of water in 3 minutes,

very suitable for office workers' busy mornings.

Great Items Designed for Women

Best100: Pigeon China Electric Breast Pump (previous generation 599 yuan)

The piercing pain of breastfeeding brings psychological pressure to many mothers,

this electric breast pump uses a lightweight electric pump,

and can produce a gentle suction,

simply a lifesaver, right,

and therefore won the most prestigious Best100 award.

Taiwan, China JIA inc Rih Chang Cookware Set (expected to be released in October)

Fox complained in an earlier article

that domestic enameled cast iron cookware had not been upgraded for a long time.

It is much heavier than Zwilling stainless steel cookware,

and it takes great effort for a girl to move it.

This Rih Chang cookware is the work of the famous designer Naoto Fukasawa.

It follows Naoto Fukasawa's philosophy of "design without thought."

Although at first glance it looks no different from what is on the market,

as long as you compare it carefully with Le creuset it is not hard to find

that the handle of the Rih Chang cookware has a slight angle,

giving a girl a stable support point when holding the pot;

and it fits perfectly with the inverted triangle of the tiger's mouth.

More importantly, although it uses a plain cast iron craft,

it innovatively uses aluminium material,

and therefore is much lighter than enameled cast iron cookware on the market.

Taiwan, China's JIA inc is a brand Fox is especially keen on.

The well-known mainland China designer Zhang Yonghe has also designed many works for them.

The downside is that it is quite expensive.

MUJI Foldable Long Pillow (Japan price 3990 yen)

MUJI has come out with a boyfriend body pillow!

Those without a boyfriend can hug it,

those with children can lie down together with their child,

and when reading or breastfeeding you can also lean it behind your waist.

It is hoped it will become a hit like the bean bag sofa.

Nitori Storage Box (expected to be released in November)

IKEA furniture is rather laborious to install,

and in Fox's home it is always Fox who handles the installation,

which is not so friendly for single women.

Nitori invented a simple assembly method that does not need screws,

allowing girls and the elderly to install it easily.

Isn't it a bit like mortise and tenon joints?

Great Items Designed for Children and the Elderly

TOP100: Children's First-Person Picture Book

This looks just like an ordinary picture book, right?

In fact, its highlight is that it is drawn from a first-person perspective,

so when children read it they see the world through the eyes of Momotaro or Cinderella,

and the text is also the protagonist's real feelings.

Every child hopes to be the protagonist,

and the purpose of this design is to let children experience and share others' feelings,

thereby cultivating "empathy and imagination."

Best100: YKK Tear-Open Zipper

For adults, a zipper is already as easy as drinking water,

but children's physical coordination ability is not strong,

and the elderly may have blurry vision.

The insert area of this YKK tear-open zipper is 3.18 times wider,

making it convenient for both children and the elderly to use.

And when undressing you can just tear it open directly,

because the material is not hard metal,

but soft and tough resin.

Panasonic Nanoe Air Purifier F-MV1000 (previous generation product 1299 yuan)

Kewang Life Lab once introduced the previous generation product,

and it was still recommended by a poop-scooper with 9 cats.

Now every air purifier brand is competing over hard indicators like CADR,

but ignoring that air quality is not only PM2.5, formaldehyde and so on,

but also includes the smell of baby urine, the old-age odour of the elderly, the smell of pets and so on.

Panasonic's Nanoe air purifier,

while deodorising,

also has a sterilising effect.

MUJI Polyethylene Soft Box (medium size 80 yuan)

MUJI's new storage box,

It looks not much different from the old model,

but it uses a new type of soft PP material,

plus a rounded-corner design,

making it more suitable for children to use.

And it can be used in the refrigerator and in water.

(Don't rush to buy it,

it's said that MUJI will match Japanese prices by the end of the year.)

Japan Midori children's scissors (about 39 yuan domestically)

These days, scissors are mostly used by children for crafts,

but children's fingers are thinner than adults',

so they don't have as much strength when using them.

These children's scissors have a soft, elastic toothed anti-slip body on top,

so they can be held comfortably regardless of finger size.

And the scissor cover has ventilation holes,

making sure it won't rust from water getting in.

ZMI portable mosquito repellent (59 yuan)

A battery-powered portable electric mosquito repellent,

smaller than the VAPE Future electronic mosquito repellent watch we introduced before,

it can work 8 hours a day for 30 days,

(the VAPE watch can be used for 20 days).

And following the characteristics of the Xiaomi ecosystem chain,

its value for money is a bit higher than the 78-yuan VAPE.

Good items suited to China

Best100: American Standard Genie gentle-pressure showerhead (129 yuan)

In Asian regions, including many parts of China,

the water supply is unstable and water pressure is low.

So many pressure-boosting showerheads have appeared,

but pressure-boosting showerheads feel prickly during use,

whereas this American Standard gentle-pressure showerhead

combines a strong water flow with a gentle feel.

And the transparent design and easy-to-open panel

also make it easy to spot and clean limescale.

Smartmi 3D anti-smog mask (29 yuan for 3)

A shaped mask supported by a 3D frame,

skin-friendly and pressure-free,

it's said it can keep the mask from ruining carefully applied makeup.

Kager shared power bank

Shared power banks are a relatively leading thing in China,

but many shared power banks look like boxes,

without any sense of sharing.

The design of this shared power bank is just like a pen holder,

and the different lengths of the shapes

also make it easy for people to find the capacity that suits them.

Maybe before long it will be seen on streets and in alleys.

Of these good items above,

which ones have won you over?

Fox added the ones that can be bought in China

to his own Kexu Life personal page.

Scan the code and you can see them.

Now you can also use the Kexu Life mini program

to record good items you find desirable,

and you can also generate a similar poster.