Buz wins Australian Design Award - May 2001

Sydney-based hi-tech design company Abuzz Technologies has won this year's Australian Design award for industrial design, beating some well-known heavyweight players to the finishing line. "We're really thrilled to be accepting this award, especially since we're a relatively young business, formed less than five years ago", said Managing Director Morgan Drew.

Standards Australia recognised Abuzz for their touchscreen information kiosk, The Buz, designed originally for BMW showrooms.

"We had to meet stringent criteria from ergonomics through to aesthetics to be shortlisted for the Award and win the Design Mark", Drew said from his Darlington design studio."Then to win the design award itself we had to convince the judges that our product was the best in what was a very strong design field."

"It's rare in Australia to be given an opportunity to find a client such as BMW willing to invest in both functional design and aesthetics", he said.

"This award vindicates my belief in the power of form following function, and I want to recognise and thank all the people who've supported me in developing the Abuzz range of products", said Drew. Drew lists an early mentor and backer Mr Graham Edmonds as well as his own design team for getting behind his vision.

"Vincent Chu produced the design from sketches I made for the BMW people", Drew said. "We spent three months sourcing the best materials and testing components to arrive at the computer-aided design that finally won this award" he explained.

Click here for more information on the Australian Design Award winning Buz kiosk.