Press Release
Yohei Murai Is Honored with the Bronze A' Design Award for Shellmine Kids Tableware Set in Baby, Kids' and Children's Products Design
Yohei Murai acknowledged for baby, kids' and children's products 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 Baby, Kids' and Children's Products Design category for Shellmine Kids Tableware Set by Yohei Murai, designed for Doshisha Women's College of Liberal Arts. The result belongs to the 2024 - 2025 A' Design Award & Competition and was decided 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.
The Bronze A' Design Award Explained
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.
About Shellmine Kids Tableware Set
Shellmine Kids is a tableware set designed for infants. The set includes an egg plate, a chick plate, a cup and two bowls. Fifty-seven percent of the material is made from eggshells, and a chick motif makes the mixed white and brown coloring of the eggshell resin visible in the store. Thick bases lower the center of gravity, and the undulating outer surface improves grip, so the pieces are harder to drop. The removable chick plate and the simple shapes allow continued use by adults, which extends the life of the set.
About Yohei Murai
He is an associate professor at Doshisha Women’s College of Liberal Arts, a designer, and a design researcher specializing in product and craft design. He earned a doctoral degree through research on the shamisen, a traditional Japanese musical instrument. In addition to designing various industrial products, he conducts academic studies that reconsider the cultural and aesthetic aspects of traditional crafts from Japan and Thailand in a contemporary context. His work aims to design traditional crafts and cultures from the perspective of product design, and he shares this experience through academic publications and university education.
Award Record
This recognition makes Yohei Murai a winner of 1 A' Design Award.
About the A' Baby, Kids and Children's Products Design Award
The A' Baby Products Design Award is an international design competition recognizing good baby product designs by leading brands and designers worldwide. It is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to baby product designers, industrial designers, toy companies and children's product manufacturers from all countries. Typical entries include strollers, car seats, baby monitors, high chairs, baby bottles and pacifiers. The awarded baby products designs are published at https://designers.org/design-category/baby-products
About A' Design Award & Competition
Organized annually since 2008, A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The philanthropic mission of the A' Design Award is 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. Nominations are peer reviewed and evaluated anonymously 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. Eligible laureates receive the A' Design Prize, which 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, uploading a work and receiving a 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. More information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://designers.org/162754
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/162754
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!162754
- Laureate Profile: https://designers.org/d/350463
- Further Information from the Laureate: http://www.fukuicraft.co.jp/shellminekids/
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
###
Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- Shellmine Kids Tableware Set
- Function
- Tableware Set
- Category
- Baby, Kids' and Children's Products Design
- Discipline
- Industrial Design
- Industry
- Kids
- Colors
- Burly Wood, Gainsboro, Goldenrod, Gold and Wheat
- Images
- 5
- Client
- Doshisha Women's College of Liberal Arts
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Yohei Murai
- Country
- Japan
- Recognition
- Bronze A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2024 - 2025
- Design ID
- #162754
Credits
- Image Credits
- [ Main image: Photographer Naoki Tatori, shellmine, 2023. ][; Photographer Naoki Tatori, Shellmine, 2023. ][; Photographer Naoki Tatori, Model: Yuzuha Oka, Shellmine, 2023. ][; Photographer Naoki Tatori, Model: Ame Murai, Shellmine, 2023.][; Photographer Naoki Tatori, Shellmine, 2023.]
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- Most biomass resin tableware on the market does not look like it is made of biomass resin at first glance. Because they look like conventional products, it is difficult to get people to buy them at a high price. Therefore, by using a chick as the design motif, the raw material, eggshell resin, is made visible, exposing the coloring, which is a mixture of white and brown eggshells. By doing so, we created an opportunity for people to understand what the material is at the storefront. In other words, it is a design that asks people to make a choice about the future global environment.
- Inspiration
- This project was commissioned by a Japanese commercial tableware manufacturer to design a set of children's tableware using eggshell plastic. Fukui Craft is the company that introduced plastic tableware to Japan and boasts the largest sales volume. However, environmental problems caused by plastics are becoming more serious worldwide, and the company has developed a biomass resin using eggshells. Biomass resin is an ideal material with low environmental impact, but its high cost makes it more expensive than products made from conventional resin.
- Research
- Based on a survey of more than 120 parents with children, Shellmine Kids was designed to have a shape that is easy to hold and functions that are easy to use. The most common request from mothers was for a shape that is easy to wash and can fit in a dishwasher. Based on the results, we filled in the grooves that should have been on the back of the chick dish to make it easier to wash. Such ideas are usually not good for the environment because they increase the amount of resin used. However, since this product is made from 57% eggshells, the environmental impact of adopting such an idea is minimal.
- Challenge
- We decided to make children's tableware because it sells for a higher price than usual as a gift and therefore biomass resin can be used. Through this product, we can also convey the importance of environmental problems from parents to their children. Education is essential to raising environmental awareness. However, we faced a problem here. Children's tableware is often thrown away as they grow up. Therefore, to extend the life of the product, we made the chicken dish removable and designed a shape that is easy for anyone to hold, thereby creating a product that can be used even as an adult.
- Realization and Technology
- 57% of the material is made from eggshells and has acquired the Japanese Biomass Mark 55. This product can contribute to a recycling-oriented society by turning discarded eggshells into something attractive. The specific gravity of the material is almost the same as that of ceramics, and it combines the crack resistance of resin with the robustness of ceramics. Tableware made of this material, for which a manufacturing process was patented in Japan, can reduce CO2 emissions by 37% and petroleum-derived components by 44% compared to conventional resin tableware.
- Operation and Interaction
- The main target of this tableware is infants. The risk of children dropping dishes or cups while eating was reduced by the following methods. By making the bottom of the tableware thicker, we have controlled the center of gravity, which made it harder to fall over. The specific gravity of this material is about the same as that of ceramics, so it can add weight with a small thickness. By undulating the outer surface, it gets caught in your hand when you hold it, which makes it difficult to drop. By helping children eat easily, we support children's desire to eat by themselves.
- Project Duration and Location
- The project started in August 2022 and finished in July 2023, and was exhibited in GOOD DESIGN EXHIBITION 2023 in October 2023 etc.
- Specifications
- Egg Plate W230mm D230mm H24mm 380g, Chick Plate W240mm D180mm H22mm 274g, Cup W81mm D81mm H87mm 140g, Small Bowl W96mm D96mm H43mm 110g, Medium Bowl W107mm D107mm H50mm 164g
- Keywords
- SDGs, Kids Design, Eggshell Plastic, Biomass Plastic, Environmental Problem
