The Graduate School of Creative Design Engineering (CDE) at UNIST has been invited to showcase its own style of art at the Dubai Design Week 2018, held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Their design concept, entitled 'stool.D', is the combination of technology with art and design to create a futuristic furniture that is both stylish and functional. Designed to revolutionize the way people exercise, this breakthrough comes from a recent project by Professor Young-Woo Park and his design team, consisting of Eunjun Jo and Sangjin Park in the Graduate School of Creative Design Engineering at UNIST.
A total of 150 life-changing inventions by the next generation of designers from across the globe were presented at the Global Grad Show 2018, which underlines the future is bright for the humanity. The innovations were selected from over 1,000 entries. Encompassing 61 nationalities from 100 universities, the selected entries, including stool.D will be displayed at the exhibition from November 12 to 17, 2018. Held in partnership with Investment Corporation of Dubai, the Global Grad Show is a key event of Dubai Design Week.
"Since launching in 2015, Dubai Design Week has grown to become the world's largest student gathering," says Professor Park. "Global Grad Show is a showcase of ideas from the brightest young minds from world-leading design and technology schools, including Harvard, MIT and Royal College of Art (RCA)".
This is the first time the Graduate School of Creative Design Engineering has ever participated to apply for the entry to Dubai Design Week and to receive the honor. Among 150 invited works, 18 were from Asia and two from South Korea, one from UNIST and the other from Samsung Art and Design Institute (SADI). In particular, UNIST's stool.D has been also nominated as one of the top 10 candidates for 'Progress Prize'.
Conventional cycling machines often struggle to integrate into the home, both spatially and aesthetically. stool.D addresses this problem by compressing a stationary bicycle into a single piece of multifunctional furniture. When the user pedals, LED lights provide visual feedback. The light rotates at the same rate as the pedaling speed and provides the user with pleasure and motivation. Pioneering a new exercise-enabled form of furniture, stool.D provides a means for users to remain active when they are sitting, working, playing games or watching TV.
This stylish stool resembles the shape of the alphabet letter D. Users can use this to exercise their legs by simply sitting down and pedaling at their chosen intensity. The curved part is also equipped with LED lights, which can be used as indoor lighting. LED light is rotated according to the pedaling speed, thus adding a fun visual element to this.
"Conventional cycling machines often struggle to integrate into the home, both spatially and aesthetically," says Professor Park. "stool.D addresses this problem by compressing a stationary bicycle into a single piece of multifunctional furniture."
Meanwhile, Dubai Design Week is the region's largest creative festival, reflecting Dubai's position as design capital of the Middle East. The Global Grad Show exhibition showcases forward-thinking ideas selected based on their power to accelerate change and improve lives. The designers themselves will present their ground-breaking prototypes, selected from over 1,000 entries. The exhibition will showcase work from 100 universities, including Harvard, MIT and the RCA, alongside projects from institutions from Chile, Jordan and Pakistan.
