CSULB graduate design student Matthew Schwartz is one of eight finalists chosen in this year’s Electrolux design competition to go on an all expense paid trip to London in September, where prizes for the top three entries will be given out after contestants make 10-minute presentations.
The winner will receive a paid six-month internship at an Electrolux global design center and €5,000, or $7,114. The second place prize is €3,000, or $4,268 and third prize is €2,000, or $2,845.
Schwartz hopes that his success in the competition will make a positive impact on the design department, who, along with 23 classmates and Studio Instructor Max Beach, supported him with ideas and critiques during the process.
“Matthew rose to the occasion and filled his objectives to round himself out as a starting professional,” Beach said. He went on to say that he was pleased to see Schwartz get out of his comfort zone.
Schwartz was chosen for his portable microwave concept, the Onda Portable Microwave.
Beach said concepts usually have a reason or theme behind them. The theme of this year’s competition for designing future appliances was “Intelligent Mobility,” with a focus on food preparing appliances.
The Onda Portable microwave is a small device that is made to slide over pre-packaged meals, automatically break their packaging seal and begin heating the food. Powered by eco-friendly paper-batteries, Schwartz said that the concept’s success comes from its convenience and practicality.
There were more than 1,300 entries in the competition that was established in 2002, with contestants from all over the world including France, Poland, Australia and the United States.
Electrolux is a very large Swedish appliance maker that sponsors the competition and sells products under dozens of brand names including Frigidaire, Eureka and Westinghouse.
Schwartz said that he was very happy just making it among the semi-finalists, and now is even more excited to be one of the finalists going to London in September.
He began the idea process by paying attention to his own needs in the kitchen, and then started asking others about appliances they think could be improved.
“The microwave has always been restricted to the kitchen, so I wanted to come up with a concept so that it no longer was,” said Schwartz.
Schwartz said that Beach’s class had weekly critiques that were very productive, adding that they were done in an environment full of design students familiar with each other’s projects.
Beach achieved his own collegiate success in the design industry, designing a personal watercraft that can push and power itself underwater.
While the theme of his own concept was to push the boundaries of the boating industry, Beach said that Schwartz’s concept focuses on a new user opportunity for an already existing technology.
“The idea for a new concept comes from finding an opportunity that doesn’t yet have a solution,” said Schwartz.
Schwartz decided to attend CSULB because it offered industrial design as a major.
He sees himself as a modern day inventor.
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