2003 Cuisipro^® Café Line Steeped in International Accolade

Markham, Ontario, Canada — July 2003 — The Cuisipro® Café product line won a Silver Award in the prestigious, international Industrial Design Excellence Awards (IDEA 2002), co-sponsored by the Industrial Designers Society of America and Business Week magazine. The Design Strategy and Management category recognizes excellence in the research and strategic thinking behind the development of a new product.

Kerr & Co., a Toronto based design firm, designed the line for Cuisipro®. Extensive research of the rising coffee and tea market was done, conducting personal interviews, observing the behaviour of tea and coffee drinkers and then designed so that it would best meet the users' needs. "Great product design is about much more than creating something that looks beautiful", said Helen Kerr (owner of Kerr & Co.). "Great design is all about finding the right solution to the correct problem, which, when executed well produces innovative products that meet user and market needs. Watching people drink coffee was like an anthropological study. There is a ritual and optimal procedure in every step."

The annual competition attracts over a thousand applicants from around the world to participate in the blind review process. Juror Andy Diaz-Hope, IDSA, said: "We look at all aspects of an entry to gauge its looks and functionality before we even consider it for an award. Because the product looks good, won't win an award. The product has to do its function or create needed functionality better than any of its predecessors. Any product that won, essentially, raised the bar of excellence for that category."

The Cuisipro® Café line, Business Week/IDSA 2002 award winner, will be featured with other winners on the IDSA web site www.idsa.org