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| Kitchen bin - Storyline |
Designers Richard Seymour and Dick Powell test a variety of standard kitchen bins on the market and are appalled at their shortcomings. They resolve to design a better bin and work with Lucy Housewares, part of Plysu, to do so. The company, which is a leader in the market, is sceptical that the duo will make a design breakthrough; but its head of design Mike Dickins joins Richard and Dick together with consumer journalist Lauren Floodgate and waste experts to participate in a one-day creative workshop in the search for the big new idea.
At this brainstorming session, new concepts are explored in a bid to tease out the problems and develop design alternatives. Issues and ideas are sketched out and pinned up for discussion. Progress is slow - an indication, says Dick Powell, of how tough the problem really is. The programme points out that since the pedal bin of the 1950s and plastic swing-top of the 1960s innovation has stalled. The brainstorm group proposes crusher bins and disposable bins, but the most interesting concept which emerges is one in which the bin has front doors which open, so you don't have to lift the rubbish bag out through the lid.
Back at their studio Seymour and Powell carry on sketching to shape up a proposal for a pedal-operated bin with an advanced mechanism to cleanly open and fold back the lid, and with front doors to remove the bag. There are evident user advantages from such a design but producing it will be technically demanding, given the elaborate mechanism required. Initial design development is not promising. In working with Mike Dickins at Lucy, Dick Powell frets that the space needed for the mechanism is making the 'throat' of the bin too small given its overall capacity. After all, bins have had to double in size since the 1930s to accommodate the rapid growth in household waste. The concept is rethought and refined in a bid to create a larger opening. Design is shown to be as much about the 'physics' of a product - achieving the right geometries to make the product perform correctly - as about style and aesthetics.
Eventually a working prototype with a slimmer lever system replacing a bulky cog mechanism is built by modelmakers Mount Design to Seymour Powell's specification, which meets with the designers' approval. Consumer journalist Lauren Floodgate is impressed, but will the company think it's an advance upon what already exists? Production of a new bin involves heavy financial investment and Lucy needs a genuinely pioneering design. As the new bin could retail at around £40, the company remains sceptical. But when the 'better bin' is unveiled and its pedal-operated mechanism with 'magic doors' demonstrated at the company headquarters, there is a positive reception from the manufacturer, which recognises that the bin incorporates innovative features not seen elsewhere on the market, especially in relation to the needs of older and disabled users.
The designers are relieved and elated as the green light is given for the next stage of consumer testing. But there is still a very long way to go before their bin will hit the shops. Will Lucy Housewares make the investment needed? Eventually, after consumer testing the new bin, Plysu announces that they will now look to develop some of the key features in a less expensive product.
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