Hot designs strut their stuff

Hannover, Germany... A transparent-glass radiator impressed the jury at this year's iF International Forum Design GmbH competition. ... A transparent-glass radiator impressed the jury at this year's competition. They gave it one of the iF Gold Labels in the Product Design category. The annual iF competition attracted over 1,800 entries from 30 different countries in categories for Products, Packaging, Public, and Transportation. The jury, composed of top international designers, handed out 430 awards including 15 Gold and 25 Silver. Here's a sampling of the top designs: The SGG Thermovit Elegance radiator designed by Aachen, Germany, uses just sheets of glass with no complicated plumbing, visible wires, or bulky accessories. Activated via wireless control, the glass radiator reportedly controls radiated heat more uniformly than traditional metal structures. SGG Thermovit glass from Aachen-based is an electrically heated laminated safety glass that comes in clear, perfectly transparent, and screen-printed. Key to the Bambus Skis from German-based is natural, fast-growing, bamboo. Bamboo competes well with conventional ski materials due to its high strength-to-weight ratio and torsion and pressure load properties. Bamboo serves not only as the ski core, but also as the surface finish. Scratches and dings easily buff away while the natural bamboo grain gives every ski an unsual look. The frame of the Senerio Carbon 1.1 bike from Bad Camberg, Germany, weighs less than 1 kg, thanks to carbon-fiber-reinforced composite construction. The composite has a high strength-to-weight ratio, which let Storck drop about 220 gm over an aluminum model. The carbon-fiber-based frames come in four heights, with a variety of lower tube diameters. Storck had another winning entry, Ergo Carbon handlebars. They weigh in at just 200 gm and give riders six different grip positions. The handlebars were designed jointly with German compositefiber manufacturer Other Gold Label winners include the A8 sedan, an