Press Release
Black Hole Cat Litter Box by Liang Xueyong Wins the Bronze A' Design Award in Pet Care, Toys, Supplies and Products for Animals Design
Liang Xueyong honored for pet care, toys, supplies and products for animals design by the international grand jury of the 2024 - 2025 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 18, 2025 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has confirmed the Bronze A' Design Award in the Pet Care, Toys, Supplies and Products for Animals Design category for Black Hole Cat Litter Box by Liang Xueyong, designed for Suzao Union (Hangzhou) Technology Co., Ltd.. The result belongs to the 2024 - 2025 A' Design Award & Competition and was determined through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who assessed anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
About the Bronze A' Design Award
The Bronze A' Design Award is given to outstanding designs that showcase a high degree of creativity and practicality. It recognizes the dedication and skill of designers who produce work that stands out for its thoughtful development and innovative use of materials and technology. These designs are acknowledged for their professional execution and potential to influence industry standards positively. Winning this award highlights the designer's ability to blend form and function effectively, offering solutions that enhance people's lives and wellbeing.
Regarding Black Hole Cat Litter Box
Black Hole is a cat litter box designed to match modern interior decoration. A ring forms the front entrance and is linked to the top cover by a connecting rod, so both parts move together. Rotating the ring opens the cover, and the linkage adds natural resistance for a soft and quiet close. An outlet on the top cover lets litter carried out by the cat fall back into the box as the cover is lifted. The ring also conceals the shape of the container. Black Hole is made of plastic, mainly PP and ABS, and the ring can be placed inside the box for transport.
About Liang Xueyong
He is a design educator as well as a designer standing at the forefront of design practice, specializing in innovative design research in many fields, including product design, visual communication, and so forth. He leads his team to engage in design and commercial practice, focusing on brand packaging, children's amusement products, and pet products. What he has come to realize the most is that the design logic for children's products and pet products is almost the same.
Award Record
This recognition makes Liang Xueyong a winner of 1 A' Design Award.
About the A' Pet Care, Toys, Supplies and Products for Animals Design Award
The A' Pet Care Design Award is an international design competition recognizing good pet supplies, toys and product designs by designers and brands worldwide. The competition is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to pet care designers, animal toy designers, pet supply manufacturers and pet care brands from all countries. Entries typically include pet food, pet apparel, pet beds, feeding bowls, litter boxes and pet carriers. Awarded pet supply designs are published at https://designers.org/design-category/pet-care
About A' Design Award & Competition
A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade organized annually since 2008. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The A' Design Award has a philanthropic mission to advance society through good design by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Entries are peer reviewed and anonymously evaluated by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. The A' Design Prize granted to eligible laureates includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, the upload of a work and the preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. Further information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://designers.org/162288
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/162288
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!162288
- Laureate Profile: https://designers.org/d/356000
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
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Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- Black Hole Cat Litter Box
- Function
- Cat Litter Box
- Category
- Pet Care, Toys, Supplies and Products for Animals Design
- Discipline
- Product Design
- Industry
- Packaging & Retail and Furniture & Home
- Colors
- Medium Aquamarine, Sky Blue, Cadet Blue, Lavender and Black
- Images
- 5
- Client
- Suzao Union (Hangzhou) Technology Co., Ltd.
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Liang Xueyong
- Country
- China
- Recognition
- Bronze A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2024 - 2025
- Design ID
- #162288
Credits
- Team
- Wang Sijia, Wang Qianqiu, Yu Fei and Yu Sushu
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- The Decopark Black Hole Cat Litter Box features a ring mechanism connected to the top cover via a linkage rod, allowing for synchronized operation. The ring serves as a front entrance and can also be rotated to open the top cover. And the linkage rod’s opening and closing mechanism adds natural deceleration resistance, effectively reducing the noise of closing impacts. The outlet on the top cover allows cat litter carried out by the cat to fall back into the box as the cover is being lifted.
- Inspiration
- Due to limitations of their functional design, traditional cat litter boxes face the challenge of matching with interior decoration. Recognizing cats innate curiosity for exploring caves, this product offers them an innovative and thrilling experience during use. The shapes of black holes have inspired the design of the ring, which not only covers the original cat litter box but also serves as a visual element to integrate with different interior design styles.
- Research
- Through observation, we found current cat litter box market have not taken the integration of home design into account, making it difficult for them to be a part of modern home design. Therefore, we made a series of improvement. In terms of shape, we designed a ring to hide the original shape of the cat litter box, making the function and style coordinated. Regarding the function, the exit of the lid can remove the remaining litter that would fall back into the litter box as the lid close.
- Challenge
- The most challenging part is the product's dual-direction opening and closing mechanism. Initially, we aimed to achieve the lid's opening and closing using the movement or rotation of a ring. Eventually, we chose the rotational motion structure. This involved overcoming challenges including calculating the appropriate support points of this structure and determining the product's counterweights. Therefore, this design allows the lid to be operated by a single connecting rod, providing both smooth opening and closing, as well as resistance for a soft close.
- Realization and Technology
- It is made of plastic, primarily PP and ABS. The ring as a main feature meet the needs to link with the lid. We have tried many linkage methods, dealing with challenges to calculating the corresponding supporting point of the structure and the products counterweights to open and close the lid with just a connecting rod, and also adds resistance for a soft close. Regarding transport, the size of the ring are designed to allow it to be placed inside the box, in case of transport damage.
- Operation and Interaction
- Black Hole Cat Litter Box features a ring mechanism connected to the top cover via a linkage rod, allowing for synchronized operation. The ring serves as a front entrance for the cat and can also be rotated to open the top cover. And the linkage rod’s opening and closing mechanism adds natural deceleration resistance, effectively reducing the noise of closing impacts.
- Project Duration and Location
- The project started in November 2023 in Hangzhou, and was exhibited in The ONE Pet Show in April 2024.
- Specifications
- Overall Dimensions: Length 565mm x Width 418mm x Height 520mm Container Dimensions: Length 550mm x Width 380mm x Height 410mm Weight: 3.1kg Material: PP/ABS
- Keywords
- Black Hole, Exploration, Soft-close mechanism, Integration with Indoor Environment, Cat Litter Box
