3-in-1 baby rocker named design awards finalist
the debut product from sophie gilder of bower & beyond has made the list of finalists for the consumer category of the australian international design awards.
rokii is a baby rocker, child’s chair and ride-on toy which can be transformed as the child ages from newborn to five years. it is also made from 100 per cent recycled materials.
gilder is thrilled by the recognition, which means regardless of the win her product will have the good design mark attached.
“i was ecstatic [but] i was a bit alarmed when i looked at the website and realised… 85 per cent of all the entries are international,” she says. “there are hardly any australian companies, certainly hardly any that are actually finalists, so as a small business with my first product i’m up against massive names like dyson and panasonic.
“it’s a bit overwhelming when you look at that and think how can one person compete with these companies that have entire design teams [and] marketing teams, but i guess i’ve been at the coalface in terms of what does a mother need to make their life slightly easier with babies and that’s a question i can certainly answer.”
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the mother of three children with a fourth on the way has a background in economics but was inspired to create a sleek product with multiple uses after her first baby was born.“when i had my first child i discovered that having a baby is like letting a bomb go off in your life and my nice, neat, carefully put together over many years house became basically a pile of rubble with all this ugly baby stuff…
“a lot of what i bought i thought ‘this will make my life easier’… but it was only used for a few months or it was badly made or it just looked horrible even though it was functional. so i thought there’s got to be a better way to do more and last for longer and doesn’t just become landfill or just get chucked in the garage for years because it’s only used for a few months, so i started working with some designers to bring my ideas to fruition… and it took a few years of perfecting and rokii was the end result,” she explains.
rokii will be on show at kids instyle in melbourne this august.
the australian international design awards will be presented on july 20 in sydney.
