POWERHOUSE COLLECTION

Kambrook 'Axis' electric kettle

Object No. 96/389/1

This kettle is an early example of ecodesign in Australia. It was the first product to result from the first organised, industry based ecodesign program in Australia, conducted by the RMIT National Centre for Design and the Energy Research Development Corporation, (part of the Environment Protection Agency) during 1994-1996. Ecodesign is an international response by designers to the environmental movement of the 1980s and 1990s. Ecodesign imbues everyday products with ecologically appropriate, sustainable qualities within a populist design aesthetic. This is revealed in such features of the Axis kettle as insulation and a temperature gauge to reduce energy consumed in use, and in the set of parts which exemplify design for disassembly, where the number of materials, fused materials, screws and welding are kept to a minimum to enable separation and sorting for recycling. By 2005 design for disassembly had become a widely used design strategy, driven by the introduction of legislation in Europe and elsewhere requiring producers to take responsibility for the recovery, treatment and recycling of used electronic appliances. Angelique Hutchison Curator 2006