Design front runners

The annual Red Dot Award remains one of the biggest prizes for product designers, with a record 5,200 innovations entered for the contest this year. Out of the intense competition, judges gave the coveted Red Dot Award to 1,304 products. In addition, 79 entries were chosen for the top award, the "Red Dot: Best of the Best", and 107 won an Honourable Mention.

Here's a snapshot of the winners.

Belle-V Bottle Opener

Bottle openers are more functional than pretty, but Belle-V makes this mundane task a little more fun. It's made of stainless steel and finished by hand, resembling a sleek nail file.

The "business end" of the opener is a specially designed lip which makes removing bottle caps a cinch. The curved upper surface feels great against the palm and elevates the opener above the bar, table or counter to make it easier to pick up. Stainless steel means it doesn't rust and its thick-walled durable construction gives it an heirloom quality.

BrydgeAir

Typing on the iPad can be a chore, but not with the BrydgeAir. The keyboard is designed to seamlessly hug the contours of the iPad while delivering the ultimate MacBook-like experience to the iPad.

The keyboard can be easily attached to the tablet, and a patented "U" shaped hinge mechanism allows infinite viewing angles across 180 degrees. The keys on the keyboard come with three varying levels of brightness, and built-in speakers for good measure.

LG Smart Security

The LG Smart Security all-in-one home security system (above) gives you the functions of an HD video camera, 24/7 professional monitoring, and seamless home automation in one sleek design package. It doubles as a smart home central hub, letting you connect to all your peripheral devices and control them through one central mobile app. The mobile app lets you watch secure live streaming video or optional DVR-style video storage.

At 152 degrees, the HD video camera has one of the widest field of views in the home security market and can capture virtually the whole room without any distortion and also has a built-in siren that activates if an intrusion occurs.

KLAFS Sauna S1

Want to step into your closet and steam all your toxins away? The KLAFS Sauna S1 (above) is touted as the sauna of the future, with its groundbreaking retractable design that looks just like a regular glass panelled wardrobe. Press a button and the 'closet' expands three times in size to reveal a completely self-contained sauna. When you're done, press the button again and the sauna retracts into its original 60cm deep size. Just don't hang your expensive suits in there by mistake.

Drop

Nestle's coffee machine Drop, was inspired by what else but a drop of coffee. The machine has seamless curves, a hidden water tank and a unique touch technology that allows you to make coffee with a touch of a finger. With just one touch, you can customise the size of your cup and enjoy your coffee exactly the way you like it, every time. Or if you want it as easy as possible, just follow the preparation suggestions on the capsule for a satisfying cup of coffee.

Philips Smokeless Indoor Grill

Love BBQs but don't like the smoke? The Philips Smokeless Indoor Grill is the first infrared grill generating 97 per cent less smoke than conventional grills. To ensure that food cooks evenly every time, two specially designed reflectors guide heat continuously to the food. Radiating heat is pointed upwards to the food and away from the drip tray below, which means it stays cooler, minimising unpleasant smoke and grease. The grill also comes with a "keep warm" mode and a lower metal drip tray that can be removed to dispose of fat and water.

Ron knife series

If you're still undecided between a santoku or regular chef's knife, get them all in the Ron knife series by BergHOFF Worldwide which marries both form and function. The blades are made of black steel with a titanium and non-stick coating with contrasting ash wood handles. The knives come with a heavy bolster providing balance and control. They also come with invisible magnets so you can safely store them in a drawer or counter top without damaging or dulling the blades.

PRANA+

The PRANA+ office floor light (left) blends cool design, quality lighting and technology in one shiny package. The lamp head shines with a direct and an indirect light and can be adapted to the desk length thanks to a flexible linear guide. It can also be controlled via tablet or smartphone and can build a wireless network with other lamps of its type.

Transition tiles

Walk on floor tiles that you know have been made with the environment in mind. Transition is a porcelain stoneware tile collection created in a collaboration between Singapore-Italian design firm Lanzavecchia + Wai and Mirage, an Italian tile company.

The tiles are made using mostly production waste material and sand sourced near Mirage's factory which guarantees the same high technical performance that is typical of mirage porcelain stoneware. It's a balance between environmentally friendly material and contemporary design. The tiles come in gradient shades that can be arranged in such a way that it creates an illuminating effect to brighten your path.

Cube

With its whimsical appearance, this speaker could well be called Cute instead of Cube. Manufactured by French company La Boite concept, this new High-Fidelity speaker system lets you wirelessly connect all audio sources. The coffee table-sized speaker has a central aluminium woofer along with a double bass-reflex in aluminium for liberating accurate low-mediums and striking efficient bass vibes.