FRIEZE ART FAIR NEW YORK 2012
MILAN 2012: SALONE INTERNAZIONALE DEL MOBILE
MILAN 2012: SATELLITE EXHIBITIONS
MILAN 2012: BRERA DESIGN DISTRICT
Robert Androué is an aspiring Italian-American designer who is currently working towards a degree at Design Academy Eindhoven. He has a handful of decent designs to his name, but his recent project Hook Sponges caught my eye, not least because I recently did a thorough cleaning of my kitchen and bathrooms. It's basically a sponge that's been cut down into a funky, even playful "C" shape so that it can 'clip' around a faucet.
One comment: considering that I had a sponge in a deathgrip for several hours on end over the weekend, I can only imagine that it would be tough to scrub, say, the molding around a staircase, with what is essentially a trimmed-down sponge.
Then again, the Hook Sponge is clearly meant for quotidian, sink-centered activity, so that's probably a moot point. In this regard, it's nice that the Hook Sponge has a "sidedness": one end of the "C" shape could be designated for greasy pots and pans, while the other could be used for more benign surfaces like countertops... for those of you (/us) who are particularly OCD.
Comments
Try hooking a soking wet sponge to your kitchen sink. Even if it stays there, I'd love to see all the dirty soapy water leaking from it with pieces of food.
A nice word for "sidedness" or "handedness" is chirality.
reminds me of those door wedges that look exactly like that
Carlo Contin had already the same idea years ago, check it:
http://www.elmanco.com/2006/07/19/design-alla-coop-gli-11-progetti-selezionati/
Casabella (www.casabella.com) did this 14 years ago and has a patent on a faucet hook on a sponge... I know because I was working there at the time. They were sold at Bed Bath & Beyond for a long time. Please do some research...
here you go...
http://www.givinggallery.com/products/Casabella-Gasacolor-Grip-Side-Faucet-Sponges-Printed-Scrubby-3-Pack-p37/
i designed these for Casabella like 10 years ago. sold at BB&B
Good explorative approach! It is (very) similar to one of the projects, sold by an Italian Cooperative supermarket chain in collaboration with important Italian designers.
have a look
the designer is Carlo Contin; for further details; http://www.carlocontin.it/index.php?option=com_jportfolio&cat=5&project=6&Itemid=30
Casabella has been making clip-on sponges for years:
http://livesavvy.com/media/show/100x/70.jpg?1189651459
And they do stay as long as you give the sponge a quick squeeze to wring it out when you're done with it... Really shouldn't be leaving your sponge saturated with water when your done with it anyway, for health reasons...
I have seen this in 2005, design Carlo Contin.
http://www.smartstuff.se/pages/engelska/eng_sep_11_2.asp
Who cares that some Italian company is making an a sponge that looks nothing like this with a hideous pattern printed on it. Are those "ergonomic" finger grooves? Wow, amazing Flavio. Oh wait, it's sort of a rectangular shape, 3M designed rectangular shaped sponges with scotch pads on the a long time ago, you ripped them off.
Here YOU go:
http://www.target.com/p/Scotch-Brite-Heavy-Duty-Scrub-Sponge-9-pk/-/A-10999873
@Tony
What we are talking about here is the idea of a sponge that hooks to your kitchen sink.
Not such an original idea in this case.
actually tony that link looks nothing like flavio's- his isn't rectangular and has a totally different color scheme on it. also it has chirality. you have some real personal attachment to this sponge tony, or should I say ROBERT