The KAIST Herald went to interview Seobin Oh (22) and Yuhyeon Jun (24), this year’s Reddot Award recipients from KAIST. As graduate students from the Department of Industrial Design, the two students, having worked on the project with two other students Gahye Shim(22) and Sihyun Jeong(24) from Hongik and ChongJu Universities respectively, grasped the honor of winning one of the most honorable design awards. The Reddot Award has been selecting the best design concepts, ideas, and prototypes from around the world of various categories since 1955. This year, there were 3736 works strictly evaluated by professional judges, and of which 263 projects received the award. Oh, Jun, and the two other teammates of the RubTub project are members of the Korea Design Membership (KDM) which supported the vast majority of their projects including RubTub.

What made you want to design RubTub?
[Oh] In 2011, around this season of the year, I went to Kenya with a teammate, Sihyun Jeong, with the hope that an experience in a third world country would contribute to our research in designing for the third world. We saw village women who had to carry their laundry in their arms, wrap them around a cloth, or stuff them into water buckets and carry them to a well which takes about 14 kilometers to travel back and forth. When the women arrive at the well, they would search for any reasonably handy stone to rub their clothes with. Without appropriate tools to do laundry, the clothes are easily damaged; this is a serious problem because the villagers do not have spare clothes in the first place. After washing the clothes, the women would hang them on tree branches and wait for them to dry for hours under the scorching sun. To solve this problem, we came up with hundreds of design ideas to relieve their stress, and RubTub was the result.
[Jun] After hearing about their experience in Kenya, our team members thought about ways to provide a better method to change the laborsome working condition. Also, apart from the design concept, we also thought about the shape, material, manufacturing process, and costs required to make the product since the design is mainly for people in third world countries.

Could you please explain the concept of your design?
The purpose of our design is to best serve the people of third world countries when it comes to doing laundry at far away distances from their dwellings. We attached handles to a washtub and turned the bottom of it into a washboard so that the villagers can easily carry their laundry within and then simply flip to use the washboard. After washing, a silicon cover with holes can be used to lightly squeeze the water out, and the villagers can then bring their laundry back to their dwellings by holding the handle of the washtub. Washing, drying, and transport can be coordinated harmoniously with RubTub.

What did you learn from the process? What would you like to say to your juniors?
Working by ourselves without getting any help from professors, our teammates relied heavily on each other. As KDM members, we would gather and brainstorm ideas, and reject or suggest better solutions to solving a problem. Coming up with the idea of RubTub itself and carefully designing the angle of the washboard all required thoughtful considerations. In groups of four, we each had journals to write down and draw our ideas. This was refreshing because we could meet students of our age with different talents and backgrounds. Here at KAIST, the Department of Industrial Design is focused mainly on research and mechanisms whereas other universities have a variety of different curriculums. Industrial design at KAIST also offers a lot of projects and studies that it is difficult to allot time for participating in contest exhibits. We would like to say that contests are not just for accumulating “specs”; they can serve to improve your designing skills. Also, we suggest that you look beyond what KAIST can offer. There are many opportunities out there.

What are your feelings about having received the award? What are your goals?
[Oh] It was very exciting! The award ceremony took place at the Reddot Design Museum in Singapore. Though it was costly to attend the ceremony, I would love to attend such a ceremony again. I was grateful to be with world famous designers and realized that I should work even harder. My goal is to go to Singapore again by receiving the Reddot Best of Best Award next time. Though I went by myself as a representative of our team this time, I am hoping to go with all my teammates in the years to come!
[Jun] I was thrilled to have received the award. I wish to present other ideas to Reddot and get better awards. I am also hoping to submit RubTub to the upcoming IF next year. I am looking forward to achieving a three grand slam! Also, I want to continue research in meaningful projects that can bring a positive change to the society. 

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