Divine Inspiration at The Cube by Electrolux

The Cube by Electrolux overlooks the River Thames

If you’re in need of divine Inspiration, look up, and you’re guaranteed to find it there! Well, you are in central London and until September 30, anyway. The Cube by Electrolux has just arrived from Milan, transported via 11 lorries, and featuring its latest range of Inspiration appliances.

This 140sqm, 67 tonne pop-up ‘chefs table’ (with emphasis on the word ‘up’ ), is perched on top of the Royal Festival Hall on London’s Southbank. Around 5,000 diners are expected to be eating lunch and dinners, over the next four months, served by one of a six-strong team of Michelin-starred chefs. The chef team includes Sat Bains from Restaurant Sat Bains in Nottinghamshire; Claude Bossi from Hibiscus in Mayfair; Daniel Clifford from Midsummer House in Cambridge; Tom Kitchen from The Kitchen in Edinburgh and Jonray and Peter Sanchez-Iglesias from Casamia in Bristol.

These renowned chefs will not only be at the pass but also mingling with the booked guests - (paying between £175 and £215 for a set course including wine) to give hints and tips on cooking and how to achieve the results using Electrolux appliances. Head of marketing for Electrolux, Graham Bremer says: “We are releasing seat tickets in stages and already we are fully booked for the next five weeks."

The Cube forms a stage for Electrolux, which is repositioning its brand at a higher level, and leveraging its credibility using its 90-year history in professional environments. One in three hotel chains use Electrolux appliances for their kitchens or laundries and over half of Europe’s Michelin-starred restaurants use Electrolux equipment. Managing director, Ian Banes said at the launch of Inspiration: “10% of our global sales are professional and this division drives the technology for domestic design”. And Sophie Davidson, head of product, also commented at the event: “We have taken a lot of learning from professional ranges and injected them into domestic appliances.” It means the Inspiration range sees the introduction of a CombiSteam oven with temperature probe, InfinitePure induction hob with rotary sliders and fridge freezers with a single compressor to run dual cooling systems. And Electrolux is already planning to further augment its Inspiration range in September. It plans to launch the Inspiro oven with automatic volume sensing and self-adjusting cooking, gas hobs with vertical flame burners, laundry and dishwashers.

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Electrolux Design Lab names winner

Electrolux named the winner of its Design Lab contest as Adrian Mankovecky from Slovakia who carried away the title for his Portable Spot Cleaner, at Room Home Intelligence at the Business Design Centre in London. His design concept was a small cleaner that refreshes clothing and removed stains with steam and ions.

He beat a field of 1,300 industrial design students throughout the world who were asked to consider the theme of ‘intelligent mobility’. The entrants were invited to create home appliance ideas for how people prepare food, clean and do dishes both within and beyond the home. It demanded the appliances should be more potable and provide flexible control to liberate people from being in the home. The brief also requested that the ideas offer personalisation and inspire users, while using technology to offer support and guidance.

The jury, which included Danish design Cecilie Manz, award-winning architects Hayes and James Slade and Henrik Otto, senior vice president of global design at Electrolux, was impressed with Mankovecky’s thinking.

The reason for naming Adrian Mankovecky the winner was given as : “The Portable Spot Cleaner is built on a very solid consumer insight and it is highly relevant. It is an instant laundry device that has a positive impact on the environment by reducing consumption. Its usage and interaction are very intuitive. We all want one.”

Senior vice president of global design at Electrolux Henrik Otto added that he personally liked how the Portable Spot Cleaner is similar to the Ergorapido being “a fresh new way of tackling a clothing care problem on the go, and with consideration for sensitive materials.”

Adrian Mankovecky wins a 5,000 Euros and a six-month paid internship at an Electrolux global design centre.  The second prize was presented to Enzo Kocak from Monash University in Melbourne Australian for the Ribbon, a flexible thermos and third prize was presented to Roseanne de Bruin from Massey University in New Zealand for the Smoobo blender.

The People’s Choice award, voted online, was presented to Matthew Schwartz for his Onda Portable Microwave.