Awarded
Mathias Durisch / Moritz Schlatter
Avalanche rescue rucksack 'Bobsbag I', buoyancy bag,'Bobsbag II'
Product and Industrial Design
Mathias Durisch, Moritz Schlatter
Durisch / Schlatter
© BAK / Erwan Frotin
Durisch / Schlatter
© BAK / Körner Union, LausanneMathias Durisch / Moritz Schlatter
Jury report
Buoyancy for water-rats
What is there to hold on to when you are being swept along in turbulent water? A buoyancy bag. The two Zurich designers Mathias Durisch and Moritz Schlatter are responding to the trend towards ever more extreme sports by trying to make them much safer. Letting yourself be swep down a torrent is probably only for the completely fearless. But there is a suitable buoyancy bag called 'Bobsbag II', though it exists only as a prototype. Until you get to the river, you carry this special item of equipment on your back quite conventionally. But the gill like, expanding slits at the side show that part of it is probably a very special amphibious section that is not afraid of the water. Once you get to the water you can stow your personal equipment away in the sack, fasten the waterproof zip and blow the bag up with a built-in pump. This gives the item of sports equipment the best possible buoyancy qualities.
Another piece of sporting equipment is intended to provide emergency buoyancy as well. The innovative 'Bobsbag I' avalanche rescue rucksack is designed for snowboarders and touring skiers. If anyone gets into deep snow in an avalanche must get on top, as otherwise they could suffocate. If the wearer is swept into amoving avalanche, they release airbags with a ripcord that give the necessary buoyancy to avoid being buried, or at least completely buried, in the snow. At the same time, a neck collar is inflated to protect this very sensitive area. This innovative transfer of airbag technology from cars to sport must have a future. This pair of rucksack products by the two designers trained at the Hochschule für Gestaltung und Kunst Zürich could make a major contribution to greater safety in extreme sports. The sports equipment, if produced in series, could perhaps even set standards for extreme but also safe lifestylesports items.
Peter Stohler
Biography
Mathias Durisch
Born in
1978
Education
Industrial Designer FH
Moritz Schlatter
Born in
1976
Education
Industrial Designer
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