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The Innovation Awards

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The Innovation Awards is a highlight of kbb Birmingham and has now concluded its sixth year running.

We invited the KBB Industry to enter innovative products to be in with a chance to win one of three categories; the People's Choice Award, the Judges Choice Award and the Sustainability Award.

See the 2024 Winners Below!🎉

2024 Winners

After thousands of votes and careful deliberation, we have our winners of the 2024 Innovation Awards. A huge congratulations to the winners and those on the shortlist. 

The Sustainability Award: Samsung Electronics

The People’s Choice Award: Hidealoo

The Judges Choice: Space-Plug Ltd

 

 

2024 Innovation Awards Shortlist

Woodio® Washbasin

The world’s first collection of 100% waterproof, solid wood composite washbasins for use in commercial interior schemes.

Created with a mixture of wood chips and resin, Woodio® combines contemporary design aesthetics with strong eco credentials.

Woodio®’s production involves no heat, with each piece hand-moulded and then set at room temperature – eradicating the need for firing, and minimising carbon output in the process. When comparing the making method of a Woodio® washbasin to one made of ceramic, the carbon footprint is significantly lower.

As well as being highly carbon considerate, Woodio® products, although designed for longevity, can be efficiently incinerated when they eventually do meet their end-of-life to generate energy through the release of biomass – with nothing going to waste.

Space-Plug Evolution

Space-Plug Evolution is the most radical change to happen to kitchen cabinetry maybe in 50 years! It’s a better way of manufacturing and installing kitchen base cabinets.

The invention of the adjustable leg 50 years plus ago soon meant that side panels were shortened from the floor. We believe that shortening back the side panels combined with the addition of 2 small measuring sticks known as “Datum Pegs” to protect customary practice, combined with a Space-Plug adjustable spacer fixing manufacturers can mimic this back to the wall. Save material and make smaller, lighter cabinets that installers can fit much faster, much easier and more accurately than ever before.They will no longer need to offer up machined edges to wonky walls, no longer need to scribe round pipes, services and wastes and will never have need to double handle a unit again.

Our evidence is showing base units can fit up to 5X faster. All of this and the customers keep the integrity of their expensive cabinets on installation. We’ve cut away too many brand new edgebanded edges for too long!

Expand 2 Fit Furniture

A longstanding challenge for both furniture makers and users is how furniture can fit available space. Expand 2 Fit Furniture is a simple, unique and creative way of expanding storage structures such as wardrobes, kitchen units, sideboards, shelves, frames and cabinets to fit any space/size up to the millimetre.

The width and/or height of the carcass, door and shelves can be expanded to size and locked without the need to measure and cut. Anybody can assemble and expand/shrink Expand 2 Fit Furniture in minutes without the need for skills, carpentry or special tools. Users can relocate the units by unlocking, shrinking then re-expanding to fit the new location. The patented mechanisms are simple, smooth, sturdy and cheap. The units have a unique modern look which can be varied to suit different tastes.

This innovation has the potential to transform the furniture market. It is a cheaper option than ordering bespoke units. It results in better aesthetics than an ill-fitting fixed size unit. By reducing the need to buy new units to fit a space - and by extension raw material demand - it delivers environmental benefits. Finally, the design positively impacts other furniture: an expandable unit on one wall can accommodate other fixed units.

Expand 2 Fit Furniture is a registered trademark and patented in Europe, USA and China.

LHOV

LHOV is a revolutionary new product that establishes a new category in household appliances: a 3 in 1 solution that integrates hob, hood and oven, making the best use of space in the home and a product that reshapes the cooking experience.

LHOV offers a whole new cooking experience, which is more functional and intuitive. Its powerful extraction system automatically removes vapours and odours, not only from the hob, but also from the oven: both in terms of air released from the top edge during cooking and the burst of vapour let out when the oven door is opened.

The name - LHOV - evokes three essential kitchen elements (Hob, Oven, Ventilation), but also the ‘love’ that has led to combine them into a single product.

The entire cooking experience is enhanced by a user-friendly and engaging interaction, similar to that of mobile devices, via both touch smart display and voice command.

BORA QVac– The built in vacuum sealer

BORA QVac can be used to vacuum seal food for a plethora of reasons: for sous-vide cooking in the BORA X BO steam oven or a pan, for marinating or simply to preserve food for longer.

The BORA QVac can be flush-mounted in worktops or surface-mounted on top of them, offering the perfect addition when preparing for an extraordinary cooking experience.

The BORA QVac has three functions: vacuum sealing in vacuum boxes and vacuum bags, resealing bottles and marinating. For an optimum shelf life, vacuum sealing can be combined with refrigerating and/or freezing – this also avoids freezer burn.

Junior PM

Less Microfiber™ Filter, an external washing machine filter designed to significantly reduce plastic microfiber emissions during laundry cycles. Designed with inspiration from apparel maker Patagonia and expertise from the global ocean conservation organization Ocean Wise, the filter builds on the success of last year’s Less Microfiber™ Cycle to substantially cut microplastics and enable sustainable laundry washing that is both effective and effortless.

The Less Microfiber™ Filter works effectively with not only Samsung’s washing machines but also any other brand. It simply connects it to the external drain pipe and the filter’s operation can be monitored separately using the SmartThings App.

Hidealoo

Hidealoo is a unique steel mechanism that works with any standard wall hung ceramic pan and cistern and allows it to be rotated through 90 degrees, meaning it can be hidden within a cabinet or cavity space. Whether it’s freeing up floor space in a compact bathroom, maximising the use of space in the eaves of a loft conversion, providing discreet toilet facilities within a bedroom area, and generally opening up options for adding extra lootilities in a home, Hidealoo provides the solution.

Hidealoo is the world’s first foldaway toilet frame and solves the challenge of installing toilets in small and hard to fit spaces, while supporting households to make the most full and flexible use of the space they have available. No other product exists that can do this and which offers a solution to such a diverse range of property/lifestyle needs.

The frame can be used to install toilets in a wide range of areas additional to conventional bathrooms and cloakrooms, including within utility rooms, wet rooms and wardrobes. As well as creating more flexible floor space and extra counter tops, this means additional toilets can be discreetly installed where adding a full bathroom may not otherwise be affordable or possible.

The result of years of development, prototyping and testing, the frame was officially launched into the market in January 2023. It has been engineered to be incredibly robust and is capable of taking well over three times normal human weight. It’s also made to last more than a lifetime having been tested over 250,000 times - the equivalent of being used more than 10 times a day for 65 years.

Reform Composite Stone

Environmentally friendly, versatile, durable and beautiful, the Ca' Pietra Reform collection comes in three formats and up to twelve different colourways.

Aqua Blue, we love. Cotto, we can’t get enough of. Khaki, we’re going crazy for. And Rosso, frankly rocks. Whichever colour you choose from its 12-strong palette, you can expect something easy-going and earthy. The whole collection is restful to be around and those rounded edges and that tumbled finish make it low key to live with too.

Rectangular? Yes please. But REFORM doesn’t stop there. With Bianco and Mint both coming in squared form, you can create a soft chequerboard scheme, wherever takes your fancy. Plus, they're sustainable too. Win-win.

Reform is an ingenious blend of recycled stone materials made in a carbon-neutral factory and has up to 60% recycled content. The tile can be used indoor and out, on walls and floors.

We are thrilled that Reform has won a Homes and Gardens Design Award 2023 for Best Hard Flooring.

ENVi® Next Generation Electric Shower

Triton’s ENVi® is a first-to-market electric shower concept, featuring a unique control panel that encourages more sustainable showering habits. Bearing a full-colour digital display, the control panel makes it easy to adjust temperature, set a timer and monitor water and energy usage.

Hosting up to six user profiles, family members can tailor their shower experience by easily adjusting the temperature, duration and pressure. UK-average water and energy unit costs are pre-set in the unit, and users can also adjust to their own specific unit costs. This empowers users to track costs-per-shower, then make habitual changes to reduce usage.

The control panel also features an eco-mode, enabling users to reduce shower time by a minute at the touch of a button. Triton believes every drop makes a difference and ENVi® has been designed to empower customers to make habitual changes that are kind to their wallet and the planet.

Novy Designer Lighting Collection 

The Novy Designer Lighting collection is designed by Matthijs Jansen & Jorg de Bont, who trained as industrial designers at Eindhoven University of Technology. In 2022, Novy purchased the studio and now manufactures and markets their innovative products under the Novy banner. Energy efficient, using integrated LED technology, all Novy Designer Lighting products are fully recyclable. There are three models in the collection which come in different sizes and variations: SHELF, WALL and PENDANT. Each features touch-free Gesture Control, where swiping beneath the sensor will activate and adjust luminosity in the kitchen.

Preparing and cooking food in the kitchen can be a messy business, yet it is an environment in which hygiene is vital. Unless wiped down every time you use them, light switches in the kitchen can harbour germs, bacteria and even viruses. With Gesture Control, instead of touching a switch, or turning a rotary control, this innovation enables touch-free access to your kitchen lighting, with the ability to use different intuitive gestures to adjust the intensity and direction of the beam. When you no longer require task lighting for cooking, you can swipe to warmer lighting hues, or to different coloured light, or you can simply switch it off just by swiping near the sensor.

The Novy Pendant 90 is a hanging pendant lamp that is designed to answer the requirements of kitchen designers that include a vented hob in their kitchen layout. With no overhead lighting from a traditional cooker hood, this stunning statement piece provides task and ambient illumination over a kitchen island, or, alternatively, it can be installed over a dining table. It features patented Gesture Control (GC) and is fitted with a single sensor. The location of the sensor is indicated with an icon at the centre of the light. You can switch on, off, dim or change the direction of light (upwards or downwards), by using a simple gesture under the sensor. You can also change the colour to personalise the atmosphere in the room. 

2024 Judges

The 2024 Innovation Awards judges line up has been announced and is made up of leading professionals and industry experts from many different areas of the KBB sector. It includes Andy Davies, Managing Editor at Taylist Media, Kia Stanford, Founder of Kia Designs, Emma Hedges, Journalist at KBBFocus and Amanda Hughes, Ergonomics Expert at Blum

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