Dezeen Wire: the folding electrical plug designed by Royal College of Art graduate Min-Kyu Choi for his graduation in 2009 has gone into production and will be on sale in the UK from next week under the name Mu.

The bottom two pins, live and neutral, pivot 90 degrees to align with the earth pin and allow two flaps to close either side into a neat block that's just 14x55x60mm.

Min-Kyu Choi designed the plug while studying at the Royal College of Art after getting annoyed that his new lightweight laptop came with an enormous plug, the design of which hadn't changed since the 1970s, was heavy to carry and scratched the laptop's case.

He went on to win Design of the Year at the Design Museum in London in 2009 - read more about his story here.

The Mu is a USB adapter so can be used to charge phones, tablets and cameras but not laptops, although Min-Kyu Choi plans to develop a laptop charger to solve his original problem.

Priced at £25, the Mu adapters will be available to buy from themu.co.uk or from the Design Museum shop.

Here are some more details from Mu:

Award winning Folding Plug concept now a reality

Made in Mind has also revealed plans for a full range of Mu products for 2012.

The original Folding Plug concept was the brainchild of brilliant product designer and illustrator Min-Kyu Choi. Unveiled in 2009, the Folding Plug concept became a viral phenomenon winning the much coveted Brit Insurance Design of the Year Award in 2010.

Choi said of the design concept, “I was frustrated by the dimensions of the traditional plug, and felt that the existing unit which dates back to 1947, was out of touch and incongruous with modern design. My idea was very simple - redesign the plug to bring it in line with the clean look and feel of today’s technology; without compromising functionality.”

Now Min-Kyu and his business partner Matthew Judkins are set to launch a full range of products in 2012 to cater for universal smartphones, tablets and laptops through their company, Made in Mind.

The Mu USB Adapters are startlingly compact and hotly tipped as the next big thing to hit the world of functional design, folding flat for storage, reducing the overall plug size by over 70%.

The first product in the range, a USB adapter for universal smartphones, is available to purchase from today. The Mu USB Adapter has a simple, white, minimalist aesthetic; a pleasing contrast to the bulk of the British plug, which is one of the largest three-pin units in the world.

A tablet-optimised Mu USB Adapter and a Mu Power Cord for laptops will be revealed later in 2012.

In 2009, when Min-Kyu Choi found that his brand new laptop computer had been scratched by his plug in transit, he set out to find a solution to this commonly acknowledged problem.

“The UK plug was designed just after the Second World War, at a time when there were no portable electric products. It didn’t matter back then that plugs were bulky and clumsy. I made a list of what could be changed and what couldn’t. The second list was surprisingly short…” Min-Kyu Choi

Using the Folding Plug design concept as a starting point, Made in Mind applied commercial thinking to the solution, considering possible further applications and product scope, market and industry considerations, commercial manufacturing processes and certification.

Awards:

Winner: Overall Design of the Year – Brit Insurance design of the Year (2010)
Winner: Product Design of the Year – Brit Insurance design of the Year (2010)
Winner: Institute of Engineering Designers – Alex Moulton Award (2010)
Finalist: Wallpaper Design Awards (2010)
Winner: International Design Excellence Award (2009)
Runner-up: James Dyson Award (2009)

Our leading PVT™ technology has allowed the development of a three-pin electrical plug with a pivot which enables the live and neutral pins to rotate. The PVT™ technology allows a standard UK plug to be reduced by over 70% in size, whilst still being operational in the open and folded positions.

Min-Kyu Choi is included in our book, Dezeen Book of Ideas. Buy it now for just £12.

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goes into production appeared first on Dezeen.

London designer Min-Kyu Choi was awarded the Brit Insurance Design of the Year Award 2010 for his Folding Plug at a ceremony at the Design Museum in London last night.

Min-Kyu Choi designed the product while studying at the Royal College of Art. See our earlier story about the project here.

All the shortlisted projects (see our earlier story) remain on show at the museum until 6 June. See the seven category winners here.

Above: jury chair Antony Gormley and Min-Kyu Choi

See also:

Brit Insurance Design of the Year Award winner 2009: Shepard Fairey’s Obama Poster
Brit Insurance Design of the Year 2008: Yves Béhar's One Laptop Per Child project

Photographs are by Luke Hayes.

Here are some more details from the Design Museum:

British student’s elegant reinterpretation of the UK plug wins coveted international design award

British student, Min-Kyu Choi from London, has won the Brit Insurance Design of the Year 2010, for his elegant reinterpretation of the humble plug, beating over 90 international nominees in the process. Jury Chair, Antony Gormley, presented him with the award at a gala dinner held at the Design Museum.

The Folding Plug was chosen from the seven category winners as the most compelling and progressive design of the last 12 months. The jury panel consisted of artist Antony Gormley, designer Tom Dixon, Editor of Icon magazine Justin McGuirk, designer Morag Myerscough, Style Director of Grazia magazine Paula Reed, editor of Wired magazine David Rowan and writer and broadcaster Janet Street-Porter.
Antony Gormley comments ‘Thought-through, responsive and modest, the folding plug shows how intelligent, elegant and inventive design can make a difference to everyone’s life.’

Min-Kyu Choi’s inspiration came from having to carry around the world’s largest plug (UK pin plug) with the MacBook Air, the world's thinnest laptop. In creating a plug which could fold flat for easy transportation, Choi received much praise on showcasing the plug at the Royal College of Art’s graduate show in 2009, with a brilliant and seemingly obvious improvement to a product that had changed little since its inception in 1946.

Deyan Sudjic, Director of the Design Museum comments ‘It’s great to see such a practical but elegant demonstration of what design can do to make everyday life so much better. Min-Kyu Choi is a designer just setting out on his career and he clearly has a great future ahead of him.’

The folding plug and all of this year’s shortlisted designs are on show at the Design Museum, due to the overwhelming demand the exhibition has been extended and will now run through to 31 October.

The post Min-Kyu Choi wins Brit Insurance
Design of the Year Award 2010 appeared first on Dezeen.

Royal College of Art graduate Min-Kyu Choi has designed a folding version of the standard UK electrical plug. Update 17/03/2010: Folding Plug has won the Brit Insurance Design of the Year award 2010. Update: this project is included in Dezeen Book of Ideas, which is on sale now for £12.

The folded plug is more suitable for travelling than the bulky standard version.

Choi has also designed a USB charger version and Multi Flat Plug (below), which allows three devices to share power from one plug that takes up more or less the same amount of space as a standard plug.

Choi's work is included in Royal College of Art show two, which runs until 5 July (closed 3 July).

Here's some info from Choi about the plugs followed by full details of the RCA show:

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‘Mac book Air,’ Apple’s latest master-piece, is the world’s thinnest laptop ever. However, here in the U.K, we still use the world’s biggest three-pin plug.

Most people carry laptops with adapters and plugs because laptop batteries have limitations on the time they can be used. When people carry laptops with U.K plugs in a bag, it always causes problems such as tearing paper, scratching laptop surfaces and, sometimes, it breaks other stuff. The main problem is the UK standard 3-pin plug is not considered in the process of designing for mobility.

My all intention of the project was directed to make the plug as slim as possible and follow the British Standard regulation at the same time.

‘Folding Plug’ changes the shape form the normal U.K plug into a 10mm thickness object, solving these damaging problems.

The ‘Folding Plug’ is also advantageous when people have to travel aboard. People normally carry up to three electronic devices for their long-term journey, such as a mobile phone, a digital camera or an iPod, However, we usually carry only one universal plug. Whilst multi-plug adapters and USB chargers allow us to use one plug socket for many devices, they are still bulky objects.

The flat properties of my folding plug have inspired the development of a multi-plug adapter that also performs in space-saving ways. By using the folding plug whilst it is folded, ‘Multi Flat Plug’ and ‘USB Charger’ allows for 3 devices to be plugged into the mains, but only inhabiting a little more space than a standard 3-pin UK plug.

SHOW RCA TWO

Open 26 June – 5 July, 11am – 8pm (closed 3 July; exhibition will close at 5pm on 30 June, 1 July and 5 July). Please note that the TEXTILES section will close for an industry reception at 5.30pm on Monday June 29. Fashion Accessories will therefore also be inaccessible to the public during this event.

The final part of the graduate shows includes work by students from the following courses: Animation, Architecture, Communication Art & Design, Conservation, Critical and Historical Studies, Design Products, Design Interactions, Fashion Footwear and Accessories, History of Design, Industrial Design Engineering, Textiles and Vehicle Design.

Some work will be for sale or commission.

Free admission

Royal College of Art, Kensington Gore, London SW7 2EU

Tube: High Street Kensington/South Kensington, Buses: 9, 10, 52, 452

Min-Kyu Choi is included in our book, Dezeen Book of Ideas. Buy it now for just £12.

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