27 Products Named 2009 Design Defined Honorees At Housewares Show

The International Housewares Association has announced the honorees of its fifth annual Design Defined product design recognition at the 2009 International Home + Housewares Show held at Chicago’s McCormick Place March 22-24. Twenty-seven innovative products for cleaning and organizing the home were named as 2009 Design Defined Honorees. The products were selected by Design Finders, teams of young designers, experienced practitioners and educators from the University of Illinois— Chicago’s Interdisciplinary Product Development Program. They scoured hundreds of exhibitors in the Clean + Contain Expo in the North Building searching for products that exemplified a commitment to design while achieving a solution to common household cleaning, storage and home décor issues. “This year’s Design Defined Honorees showed the continued commitment of the housewares industry to integrate design and innovation into their new product launches,” said Stephen Melamed, IDSA, Designed Define facilitator, a professor in the UIC industrial design department and president of Tres Design Group. “It was also significantly demonstrated that many companies are now actively moving towards the manufacture of more sustainable products. The Design Finders recognized Casabella’s eclipse line of new products as the first to receive a Silver Cradle-to-Cradle rating. No longer merely coloring a new product a shade of green and adding marketing ‘feel good’ language on the packaging; companies are now serious about this commitment to the environment and their customers.” Design Finders evaluated products according to five standard design criteria: Innovation, Aesthetics, User Benefits, Environmental Responsibility and Impact, both on the company’s business and the market. Companies receive a Design Defined logo to use in their packaging and promotion for the life of the selected product in the marketplace. Recognized as Design Defined Honorees are: * Caddy Concepts – Half Moon Portable Hamper * Capstone Industries Inc. – Eco-I-Lite * Casabella Holdings LLC – Soap Pump with Funnel; eclipse Line Aluminum Roller Mop * DSC Products- Water U * For The Ages Inc. – ReUse Recycled Trash Bags * Full Circle – Sustainable Cleaning Tools * Home Zone Int. Corp., A Division of Test Rite Products- Live 4 Nature Dinnerware * IMS/Trading – Clean Logic Body Wash and Body Lotion * Jaws Intl. Ltd., a Division of Canberra Corp. – JAWS Just Add Water System * Jokari/U.S. Inc. – Medi Cap Remover; Dual Flow Spout * LG Lite Group – Brushless Paw Wash * Like-It Co. Ltd. – POO Care Basket; POO POT * Organize-It-All Inc. – Abaca Woven Basket * Neat-Oh! International LLC – Play Tote * Really Useful Products – Z-Hanger * simplehuman – simplehuman wall mount shampoo and soap dispensers; simplehuman plastic compact dishrack * The Green Garmento – The Green Garmento * Three by Three Inc. – Bamboo Dry Erase Entry Butler * Turkish Pavilion/IMMIB – ilio forest * Umbra LLC – Fonti; Hookaboo Multi Hook * Zibra LLC – Open It! Household Packaging & More