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The Australian International Design Awards 2012: the best of the best

Every year, the Australian International Design Awards honours the best achievements in design and useability and awards vision and ingenuity.

Michelle Starr
Michelle Starr is CNET's science editor, and she hopes to get you as enthralled with the wonders of the universe as she is. When she's not daydreaming about flying through space, she's daydreaming about bats.
Michelle Starr
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1 of 39 Michelle Starr/CNET Australia

The 2012 Australian International Design Awards

Every year, the Australian International Design Awards honours the best achievements in design and useability and awards vision and ingenuity.

It is an evening where local and international engineers, designers and architects can celebrate their achievements and receive the recognition they so richly deserve.

The night was capped by the grand prize, the Australian International Design Award of the Year. Won by James Cameron's Deepsea Challenger one-man submersible, it was designed and built right here in Australia.

CNET Australia is proud to pay homage to the 2012 design achievements in the gallery below.

Michelle Starr attended the Australian International Design Awards as a guest of Dyson Australia.

SBS World News Australia broadcaster and local style maven Lee Lin Chin performed as Master of Ceremonies on the night. "Designers are the artists and explorers of not only the possible but the impossible," she said. "Everything [here], from the grandest to the humblest, from the sublimely abstract to the inescapably in-your-face, are the result of hard work, thought, experimentation, invention and — don't forget — failure."

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Design award — Automotive and Transport BRP Can-Am Spyder Roadster

By BRP Design and Innovation Team, Canada.

Not quite a bike, the Can-Am Roadster replaces the single front wheel with two, for added stability and peace-of-mind on the road, while keeping intact the cool bad-boy chic and open-air feel of motorcycling.

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Design Award — Automotive and Transport DAF XF105

By DAF Trucks Australia and PACCAR Australia.

Long-haul truck drivers live in their vehicles, and to that end, the team behind the DAF XF105 designed and tested the truck from behind the wheel in Australian conditions. They aimed to make it comfortable, ergonomic and safe; with ABS brakes, anti-slip control, brake assist, drag torque control and hill-start aid.

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Design Award — Automotive and Transport Honda CR-Z

By Honda Australia.

Winner of the Wheels Car of the Year for 2011, the Honda CR-Z is the first car with a six-speed manual transmission, combined with a hybrid drivetrain. Features include a unique 3-Mode Drive System, covering Sport with a sharpened throttle response and heightened electric motor assistance; Econ, which prioritises fuel efficiency; and Normal, for a balance between the two. It also has a five-star ANCAP safety rating and Honda's G-Con technology, with an Advanced Compatibility Engineering (ACE) Body.

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Design Award — Automotive and Transport Jaguar XFR

By Jaguar Australia.

A sleek coupe from Jaguar, the XFR can accelerate from 0 to 100 in 4.9 seconds, with Jaguar's 5.0 AJ-V8 GEN III Supercharged all aluminium quad-cam engine. Inside, it features a touchscreen panel in the centre, which controls navigation, climate, audio and phone, with Bluetooth connectivity for phone calls and music streaming via a 1200W Bowers & Wilkins sound system.

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Design Award Best in Category — Automotive and Transport Range Rover Evoque

By Range Rover Australia.

The Range Rover Evoque is the smallest, lightest and most fuel efficient Range Rover vehicle to date. The smaller size allows for greater agility, while keeping fuel consumption as low as possible; but this doesn't mean comfort has been compromised. Buyers can customise the interior of their car with a range of luxury finishes, materials and colours.

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Design Award — Sport and Leisure Gazelle Orange Plus XT Innergy (E-Bike)

By Gazelle Bicycles Australia and Royal Dutch Gazelle.

This is a bicycle that takes the hard work out of cycling, while still allowing you to get your exercise and lower your carbon footprint. A motor in the front wheel takes the difficulty out of hilly terrain, which means you'll be able to cycle without getting too sweaty — a benefit, according to Gazelle, which removes the need for a change of clothes. It also features front and rear lights built in, a digital display, chain guard, mudguards and a rear rack for carting stuff around.

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Design Award Best in Category — Sport and Leisure Chappelli NuVinci

By Chappelli Cycles and Fallbrook Technologies.

The Chappelli NuVinci bicycle features something called the NuVinci N360 — a continuously variable drivetrain that allows shifting gears through a 360-degree ratio range, so that cyclists can quickly and easily find their optimum ratio. A triple-coated and hand-polished chrome allow body makes it robust and rugged.

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Design Award — Consumer Babybjörn High Chair

By Babybjörn AB.

With a foldable table that doubles as a safety lock, the Babybjörn High Chair prioritises safety. The chair cannot be tipped backwards, nor can children stand up in it. And it's easy to clean and store.

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Design Award — Consumer Bose Soundlink Wireless Mobile Speaker

By Bose Corporation.

Small and light, the Bose Soundlink Wireless Mobile Speaker gets a lot of sound out of a compact frame, with Bluetooth connectivity for wireless streaming from any Bluetooth-enabled device.

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Design Award — Consumer Gaggenau CX480 Full Surface Induction Cooktop

By Gaggenau.

Move over restrictive circle burners! This induction cooktop from Gaggenau has heating across its entire surface, so you can place up to four cooking vessels in any arrangement you please — making size and shape no object at all.

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Design Award — Consumer Kenwood CH250 Quad Blade Chopper

By Kenwood Design Team and Kenwood Limited.

This food processor from Kenwood features two tiered sets of blades to enable chopping larger amounts of food, as well as more difficult things such as ice, in an easy-to-clean frame.

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Design Award — Consumer Miele Levitating Recirculation Island Rangehood

By Miele & Cie KG, Germany.

Don't have a chimney? No problem. This "levitating" (well, suspended) rangehood from Miele, with its flying-saucer form factor, can be placed in any kitchen without the need for ducting.

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Design Award — Consumer Nokia Lumia 800

By Nokia.

Made from a single piece of injection-moulded polycarbonate, the Nokia Lumia 800 is an excellent piece of hardware design, with bold colours and a rugged shell. Our own Joseph Hanlon said, "According to Nokia, ClearBlack makes things easier to see on the screen, especially outdoors, and we have to agree with this. The screen is also stunning indoors, with the black background of the Windows Phone UI helping the Live Tile icons to really pop off the screen".

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Design Award — Consumer Philips QuickClean Juicer

By Philips Design and Royal Philips Electronics.

Easy to assemble, easy to clean and easy to use: the Philips QuickClean Juicer looks stylish and sleek, while maintaining a high standard of user-friendliness. It is able to make up to 2.5L of juice in one go.

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Design Award — Consumer Philips Sonicare DiamondClean.

By Philips Design and Royal Philips Electronics.

Claiming to deliver up to four times more plaque removal, the Philips Sonicare DiamondClean electric toothbrush uses "sonic technology" to get right in between the teeth for a truly deep clean, with a range of brush heads. The most interesting part to us, though, is the charging glass; simply place the toothbrush in the glass to charge it, rather than having to plug it in after every use.

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Design Award — Consumer Samsung NaviBot S

By Samsung Electronics Australia.

The NaviBot S is the most accomplished robo-vacuum cleaner to date, with an advanced mapping system using an onboard camera and two CPU chips, a dust detection system and automatic dust emptying at the docking station.

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Design Award — Consumer Samsung Series 8 LED TV

By Samsung Electronics Australia.

Samsungs latest Series 8 TVs are all about content, with BigPond Movies integration, TV services, Foxtel, Samsung Music Hub, Quickflix and more. The 55- and 60-inch TVs both also feature face recognition, voice control, a motion sensor and a touchpad remote.

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Design Award — Consumer Tefal Actifry

By Groupe SEB.

The shape of the cooking bowl in the Tefal Actifry "deep" fryer allows for the even cooking of fried foods, with a minimal amount of oil — according to the specs, it can cook one kilogram of crispy chips with just one tablespoon of oil. Lower cholesterol, here we come!

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Design Award — Consumer The Breville YouBrew

By Breville Group.

You don't want to fuss about with a full pot of coffee if you're just making a single cup. The Breville YouBrew is tailored to make one perfect cup of coffee, pre-heating to make sure the water is the perfect temperature before brewing. It also has a carafe for those times when everyone needs a caffeine hit.

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Design Award Best in Category — Consumer Dreamfarm Garject

By Dreamfarm.

You've never seen a garlic press like this. It presses the garlic, scrapes itself clean, pops any residue out of the holes, then ejects the peel in one fluid motion.

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Design Award for Sustainability Interface RAW

By Interface, David Oakley Designs and Aquafil.

No two squares of the Interface RAW modular carpeting system are the same, but that's not even the best part — the flooring is made of 100 per cent recycled content, winning it this year's Design Award for Sustainability.

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Design Award — Business and Technology HP The Vault Design Language

By HP Enterprise Design Group.

HP's The Vault Design Language packages servers, storage devices, power devices and network products, either free-standing or in racks, in one giant IT data centre. The name indicates both its stylish design and the security of the information contained therein.

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Design Award — Business and Technology Orica CoDé System

By IntelliDesign and Orica New Zealand.

Working with chemicals can be highly volatile and cam result in disaster. Designed to monitor the compatibility of chemicals at source, destination and conduit interconnection points, the Orica CoDé system uses portable wireless RFID readers, RFID tag collar and bollard housings, and a touch screen HMI CPU to keep you safe.

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Design Award — Business and Technology Røde Stereo VideoMic Pro

By RøØde Microphones, Rødeworks and Konstrukt.

You may have the fanciest camera in the shop, but they're not usually known for their high audio quality. The Røde Stereo VideoMic Pro is a broadcast-quality stereo microphone, designed for compatibility with DSLR cameras to match the full-frame HD picture quality.

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Design Award — Business and Technology and Patron's Prize for Australian Design MineLab F3 Compact Metal Detector

By MineLab Electronics, Applidyne Australia and Cobalt Niche Design.

Collapsible and waterproof, the MineLab F3 Compact Metal Detector is designed for reliable performance in a military environment. It works even in mineralised soils and electronic-counter counter-measure environments, where a high-power broad-band jamming radio prevents remote control detonation to improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

His Excellency Michael Bryce dedicated this year's Patron's Award in honour of our fallen soldiers.

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Design Award — Service Design Corrs Incisive Legal Advice Template

By Corrs Chambers Westgarth.

Service design is a new category for 2012 to recognise the importance of design in service.

Corrs Chambers Westgarth's Legal Advice Template aims to simplify the legal advice process. It offers clear, incisive advice, with a front-page summary that quickly identifies an answer and recommendations up-front, in stark contrast to the more commonly found impenetrable jargon.

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Design Award Best in Category — Service Design Family by Family

By The Australian Centre of Social Innovation, Carolyn Curtis, Sarah Schulman, Chris Vanstone and Families in Marion.

A new help network, Family by Family, connects families with, well, other families who have "been there, done that", in areas such as problem child behaviour, making friends, getting out and about and learning about Australia. It locates and trains families who have been through tough times and matches them with other families who might be in need of support and advice.

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Design Award — Medical and Scientific ResMed Pixi Pediatric Mask

By ResMed and Ide Group

Designed just for children, this sleep apnoea mask allows little ones to sleep and breathe easily, without the discomfort of an ill-fitting mask designed for an adult head.

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Design Award Best in Category — Medical and Scientific and Powerhouse Museums Design Award Bung Plug

By Bestaxx and Vert Design.

The Bung Plug is pretty much what it sounds like. It seals the rectum of small meat carcasses, preventing the faecal contamination of meat and reducing waste.

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Design Award Best in Category — Housing and Building Compu Pool C-Series Commercial Chlorinator

By Compu Pool Products and CMD Product Design and Innovation.

Designed specifically for commercial pool applications — such as municipal, hotel and water park — the Compu Pool C-Series Commercial Chlorinator cleans pool water automatically, eliminating the need for liquid chlorine storage and handling, and lowering chemical and maintenance costs.

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Design Award — Architectural and Interior Goggle Ergonomic Educational Chair Range

By D3 Product Design, Steve James and Reed Furniture.

Simple and ergonomic, the Goggle school chairs are available in a range of sizes — just like the kids who will be sitting in them.

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Design Award — Architectural and Interior Graph Conference Room Chair

By Wilkhahn and Jehs&Laub.

Elegantly designed, the Graph conference room chair links the seat to the back by way of the armrests, rather than directly, allowing the chair to be pulled apart and put back together in a different configuration.

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Design Award — Architectural and Interior Haiku Bamboo ceiling fan

By Big Ass Fan Company.

Designed for beauty, performance and efficiency, and holding eight patents globally, the Haiku ceiling fan features a cool-running motor that delivers 80 per cent energy efficiency over conventional ceiling fans, much more quietly.

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Design Award — Architectural and Interior Marina Seat park bench

By HUB Street Equipment and Lusail Real Estate Development Company.

The Marina park bench was built for the Lusail City Development Project in Qatar, with a simple design based on the development's "Water is Life" theme. It uses minimal materials and a construction designed to withstand Qatar's 50-degrees-Celsius-plus temperatures.

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Design Award — Architectural and Interior Node classroom and lecture chair

By Steelcase.

For a modular learning environment, the Node chair is perfect, an all-in-one unit that is both comfortable and practical. The seat is flexible, with simple adjustments for individual requirements, and it is lightweight and easy to move about, while the basket underneath allows students to keep their belongings safe and out of the way.

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Design Award — Architectural and Interior Zgo Monitor Arm

By Zgonic and Cobalt Niche Design.

Aiming for a clean workspace, the Zgo monitor arm can be installed tool-free, and the colourful panels on the sides conceal cables. It can be customised with a range of colours and has three easy-to-adjust articulation points for the most comfortable viewing angle.

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Design Award Best in Category — Architectural and Interior Cobi classroom chair

By Steelcase.

We've all grown restless sitting in meetings and classrooms. The highly flexible Cobi chair was designed to facilitate both movement and a variety of postures, encouraging engagement and focus.

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Design Award Best in Category — Heavy Machinery and 2012 Australian International Design Award of the Year Deepsea Challenger

By Acheron Project, Design + Industry, McConaghy Boats and Finite Elements.

Engineered and built in Australia, James Cameron's vertical one-person submersible is designed to reach the darkest corners of the ocean, allowing us to venture into the frontiers of the deep. In March this year, Cameron boarded the craft for the deepest manned dive in history, 10,910m down to the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

Opening up avenues of research only dreamed of before, the Deepsea Challenger is a genuinely exciting testament to humanity's achievement and endless curiosity.

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