Lafayette student wins international design award

Rotting fruit, origami and Elizabethan garb inspired a University of Louisiana Lafayette student’s winning design in the International Home Housewares Student Design Competition. Last winter, while a senior industrial design student, Sarah K. O’Brien designed a compartmentalized fruit bowl that protects round pommes from spoiling by being exposed to the ethylene gas of its fellow fruit. When not used, the bowl’s petals fold like origami; when in use, they expand like those ruffled Elizabethan-era collars to reveal a dozen apple-sized compartments. She took first place and received a patent in October, and is now hoping to sell her design for the mass market. It isn’t her first award-winning design—a cardboard chair and an adjustable candelabra have garnered honors as well. “The enthusiastic response of people when they interact with the Elizabowl just can’t compare,” O’Brien says. “Although I do love my cardboard chairs.” She has since moved to New York City, where she’s establishing a product design department at the architectural firm 212box. Her work has been featured in the national media, most recently the New York Times. Look at O’Brien’s design proposal here. — PBF