O plugue dobrável

Este é o genial plugue dobrável de Min-Kyu Choi.

Min-Kyu Choi inventou a peça, que pode substituir os incômodos plugues ingleses de três pinos, que quase nada mudaram desde a sua adoção, em 1946.

Seu desenho superou vários outros, numa competição mundial – uma eclética mistura que inclui moda, josnais, aviões e mobília – para vencer o prêmio Brit Insurance de desenho do ano.

"Funciona, parece bom, e deverá render bons lucros se bem promovido," disse Deyan Sudjic, diretor do Museu do Desenho, que organiza as premiações.

Sul-Coreano, Choi, graduou-se no Royal College of Art de Londres ano passado.

Ele disse que o tradicional plugue de três pinos não foi projetado tendo a mobilidade em mente. "Eu tentei torná-lo muito mais fino e seguro," disse.

A invenção de Choi tem menos de um centímetro de espessura quando dobrado. "ele somente requer duas ações simples – virar os pinos principais e abrir a tampa."

Min-Kyu Choi's folding plug, which won the Brit Insurance design of the year prize tonight.

Admittedly, it's more a frustration than a matter of life and death, but it is true all the same: British plugs are awkwardly big.

Min-Kyu Choi has invented the folding plug, which could replace the clunky three-pin British plug that has changed little since its inception in 1946.

His design beat off impressive competition from across the world – an eclectic mix that included fashion, newspapers, aircraft and flatpack furniture – to win the Brit Insurance design of the year award. He won a trophy and the title but, of course, it could now be much more. "It works, it looks good and I'm sure it will make him a wealthy man if it is marketed right," said Deyan Sudjic, director of the Design Museum, which organises the awards.

South Korean-born Choi, who graduated from his MA design course at the Royal College of Art in London last year, was spurred by his annoyance at having to use a heavyweight British plug with his ultra-light MacBook Air laptop.

He said the traditional three-pin plug had not been designed with mobility in mind. "I've tried to make it much thinner and safer," he said.

Choi's ingenious design is less than a centimetre thick when folded. "It only needs two simple actions – turning the main pins and opening the cover."