Clothing hook wins HEC 2015 prize

Every year, students in Industrial Design at the University of Montreal embark on a conception project. As part of their “Idéation” class, also called “HEC project”, the students have six weeks to identify an everyday issue and answer it with an object.

All object subsequently created are then sold during the traditional HEC sale, each team providing 12 copies of their product. This year, each project was presented to a jury, in a manner similar to the “Dragon’s Den” show. The members of the jury were Julie Payette, president and co-founder of V2com, and Pierre Laramée, whom comes from the publicity domain and is a specialist of the utility product. Each team was allowed a minute to present their project, the product themselves also requiring a strong visual presence.

At the close of the 2015 sale, the HEC first prize was awarded to the UBLO project, thanks to its simplicity and originality of its shape. Create by Laurence Gauthier, Florence Girard-Laperrière and Mariko Samejima, UBLO is a clothing hook which aims to avoid the distortion of clothes.

The body of UBLO is made of a loop, manufactured from PVC plastic, with its upper part mimicking the natural shape of the collar. The angle allows it to maintain in place many type of clothing, from heavy winter coats to light silk. On the bottom part, one will find a small cavity made to host small object like keys or simply hang umbrellas and other such items. The color boasted by UBLO is quite subtle and enables it to fit in a wide array of décor.