British plug set for design revamp

An award-winning design could herald a major revamp for the old-fashioned British plug, first introduced in 1946. British student Min-Kyu Choi recently won the product design category of the prestigious Brit Insurance Designs Awards with his design for a ‘folding plug’.

The space-saving design is deceptively simple: when collapsed, the three-prongs lie in succession; the top-most pin stays static, while the middle and bottom pins twist 90 degrees into their lower position, forming the standard triangle. Flaps tucked back against the main body of the plug flick out to form the back, and the expanded unit protrudes only 1 cm compared to a standard 4.5 cm UK plug.

In addition, Choi has designed a USB charger and an adapter, the ‘multi flat plug’, which allows three foldaway plugs to fit one standard socket, while still taking up barely more room than a standard UK plug. He has plans to release these and other complimentary products later in 2010 via his site ‘Made in Mind’, and further plans to release other country-specific variants in the future.

Choi, 29, from Bayswater, London, designed the product to meet the most common travel-appliance needs, such as mobile power for laptops, digital cameras, mobile phones and mp3 players, while remaining slim enough to fit in a laptop bag.

The Brit Insurance Design of the Year Award is an international competition honouring product design excellence in products. This year, it was judged by a panel including sculptor Anthony Gormley, and journalist Janet Street Porter.

“The folding plug shows how intelligent, elegant and inventive design can make a difference to everyone's life,” said Gormley. It was also awarded gold in the International Design Excellence Awards, and was also a finalist in the distinguished Wallpaper Design Awards.