Cambridgeshire Design Icons

Organised by Creative Front Cambridgeshire, the Design Icons show at Anglia Ruskin University will showcase 20 of the most important items designed in Cambridgeshire over the past 40 years.

A panel of industry experts has chosen 19 of the products, while the 20th will be chosen by a public vote.

Among the objects on show are the Vileda Magic Mop 2, a staple of many a kitchen, which was developed by Origin Product Design.

Also on show will be the G7th Performance guitar capo, whose proponants include Eric Clapton, Bryan Adams and The Kooks.

Perhaps our favourite invention is the SureFlap cat-flap, developed by Cambridge Industrial Design, which uses RFID technology to read a cat’s electronic chip from a distance and can either allow the cat in or prevent entry to an unwanted moggy.

Design Icons is one of a series of programmes that is sharing in the Design Council’s £100 000 Design Fund for Growth 2011 grant.

Also funded as part of the programme are Culture North’s Made North conference and exhibition, which will examine how traditional art and design are merging, and Design Network North’s Step up for Design event, focused on networking and business pitching.

The other two initiatives sharing in the funding are 10 Things I Learnt, from Design Wales, which will see 10 speakers sharing their experiences of design, technology and business, and the West of England Design Forum’s Design for Growth Week, which will comprise five vents over five days to help businesses better understand design.

Design Icons will run at Anglia Ruskin University next February. To vote on the People’s Choice Award visit www.camdesignicons.co.uk.