Stefan Buchberger, from the University of Applied Arts, Vienna, Austria, has been chosen winner of the Electrolux Design Lab 2008 competition for inventing Flatshare, a modular fridge with individual compartments for people who live with several roommates.

Flatshare consists of a base station and up to four stackable modules. The modules allow each individual user to have his or her own refrigerator space and can be customized with various colorful skins as well as with add-ons like a bottle opener. Handles mounted on the side make it easy to transport the modules. “I got the idea to create the Flatshare fridge because in many shared flats there is a problem with the refrigerator,” said Buchberger. “It gets filthy because no one person feels responsible for cleaning it.” The jury was impressed by the ingenuity. “A fridge is a tricky thing to reinvent,” said Henrik Otto, head of Global Design for Electrolux and chair for the jury. “Flatshare, however, manages to be new in a fun and expressive way. A shared refrigerator is also very relevant from a consumer-insight perspective, managing to resolve the needs and wants of the target group.” “This concept stood out, in color as well as design, and the fact that you could personalize your Flatshare modules added an interesting emotional value,” adds Yves Behar, award-wining Swiss designer and fellow juror.

The Design Lab 2008 award is a prize of € 5000 and a six-month internship at one of Electrolux global design centers. Finalists included E-bag, a kinetic energy-powered cooler bag, by Apore Puspoki, Moholy-Nagy University of Arts and Design, Budapest, Hungary. According to the company’s press release, the E-bag has a rotating handle attached to a dynamo that charges a storage battery via arm motion. The cooling system uses so-called Peltier technology, a kind of solid- state heat pump that transfers heat from one side of the device to the other side. Cooling status is indicated by three LED lights. The capacity of the bag is approximately three litres.