Ladder with one step wins new design award

Cameron Rowley took the £40,000 prize from the Conran Shop’s inaugural Designer of the Future award.
(The Conran Shop)
Alistair Mason17 August 2021

A ladder with just one step secured a new £40,000 prize for a graduate designer.

Cameron Rowley, 23, won the Conran Shop’s inaugural Designer of the Future award with his One Step Ladder design.

(The Conran Shop)

Mr Rowley, a graduate of Kingston University said: “When using step stools and ladders around the house, it is usually for a very brief moment and with only one step.

“I wanted to create an object that facilitated this behaviour while maintaining a smaller footprint.”

Mr Rowley said the product was designed for use around the house in tasks such as reaching higher kitchen cabinets or dusting the ceiling, adding: “Its beauty is a consequence of its process and function.”

The award has been established with the aim of continuing the work done in nurturing new designers by the late Sir Terence Conran who died last year.

The £40,000 prize comprises a £3,000 cash prize and a paid internship, with the rest of the money going towards developing the ladder and bring it to market.

Sir Terence Conran died in March last year (Gareth Fuller/PA)
PA Archive

Mr Rowley’s ladder was one of 97 entries into the inaugural competition and won out over 11 other finalists.

The judging panel, which included architect Lord Norman Foster and designer Anya Hindmarch said: “Sir Terence Conran always voiced a philosophy of good design being ‘plain, simple, useful’.

“This is a good solution to a frequent challenge; its purpose is easy to see and understand. Elegantly executed, it also serves as a great looking product.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in