Western Washington University student David Griffin won first place at the International Housewares Association’s (IHA) 32nd student design competition, winning $3,500.
His design, showcased at the Inspired Home Show from Mar. 2–4 in Chicago, consists of a food container named Helios that heats food using an induction heating technique. It does not cook the food within the container, but it does heat it up. It is a one-pot.
Griffin was born in Bangkok, Thailand, in 2003 and was raised in Seattle. He’s a third-year student in the industrial design program at Western.
Arianna Raemont is a Junior Account Coordinator at the IHA.
“The International Housewares Association is a non-profit trade organization that is committed to maximizing the success of the home and housewares industry,” Raemont wrote in an email.
The IHA provides its members with a range of services, including year-round access to executive-level share groups and conferences, a wide range of international business development tools, housewares industry market data and information services, facilitation of industry standards and more.
The IHA created the Student Design Competition in 1993 to invigorate the housewares industry with fresh ideas of top student designers and to encourage talent to consider careers in the housewares business, according to the IHA’s official website.
Griffin explained that the idea for Helios came from observing his roommate and friends who meal prep.
“I knew there was a lot of opportunity there,” Griffin said. “When talking to them about meal prep, a huge thing that came up was efficiency because they meal prep to save time.”
Griffin observed that his roommates meal prepping experience wasn’t very efficient since they had to constantly transfer their food to different containers for storage and reheating.
Griffin had no idea his idea would net him first prize.
“Originally, this was a ten-week project, and in the start of this project, I really struggled on finding a direction,” Griffin said. “I’m very impatient as a designer and so I was constantly trying to explore different avenues before deciding on one.
The judges’ comments on Griffin’s design were “Beautiful, functional design solving a real need; excellent user research and clear design journey; and strong market awareness and real-world potential.”
“It’s a simple idea,” said Jason Morris, a professor of industrial design at Western. “But some of the best ideas are ones that seem obvious in retrospect.”
Roman Boyer (he/him) is a campus news reporter for The Front this quarter. He is a political science major and a journalism news/ed minor. When he’s not reporting, you can find him hanging out with his friends and watching TikToks. You can reach him at romanboyer.thefront@gmail.com.
