UC grad’s design floats to the finals

Laura Edwards

13 July 2011: University of Canberra graduate Ben Lau has been named as a finalist for the most influential Australian design award of the year, the James Dyson Award.

The former Bachelor of Industrial Design student impressed the judging panel with his entry, a lightweight safety flotation device designed to assist rock fishers.

The 25-year-old says he came up with the idea for the model while researching the dangers of rock fishing.

“I found that rock fishing is considered to be one of the top ten most dangerous sports in the world,” he said.

“A study carried out in 2003 listed Australia of having the highest fatality rate of rock fisherman than any other country.”

Through his research Mr Lau learnt that rock fishers often avoided using life jackets for safety as they were too restricting and heavy, which inspired him to make a more lightweight emergency device.

The device has a similar buoyancy to a lifejacket but is significantly smaller, weighing about 200 grams.

“When the user falls into the water they pull the red pull handle away from themselves, which punctures the cartridges and inflates the bladder,” Mr Lau said.

Ben Lau's design, a lightweight safety flotation device

Mr Lau started the project during his industrial design studies at the University of Canberra, and says he is interested in continuing his design efforts.

“I do have plans of progressing from here with the model but cost is the main issue. I’m hoping at the Australian Design Awards I’ll meet someone there who would be interested in funding this project with me,” he said.

He may not have to wait long - just last week Mr Lau showed his design on the ABC’s New Inventors program.

“I got pretty good feedback from the judges on the show and got some great advice from one of the industrial design judges who helped me get an idea of which direction I want to head in. It was pretty exciting to be there,” he said.

Australian design award winners will be announced at a prize ceremony in Melbourne on July 22.

Fellow University of Canberra industrial design graduates Andrew Roper, Nick Galli and Simon Schwartz have also been listed as finalists.