The Muji Award is an international design competition organised by Muji, a Japanese retail company. They have just announced the result of the third edition. These 2 projects are my favorites:

‘Trash pack for outdoors’ by Ken Sugimoto and Eri Sugimoto.

A trash bag that easily stands up by itself. By taking advantage of the triangular pack that originated in Sweden and has been used for years for serving milk for school lunches in Japan, we were able to achieve a sense of stability, while the tendency to worry about the actual contents of the bag has been lessened. Can be put to good use when camping, on a picnic, or with other outdoor activities.

‘Grandpa’s nail hook’ by Masashi Watanabe.

My grandfather nonchalantly pounded nails into posts and hung various things on them. So that things didn’t fall off these nails, he unconsciously pounded them in at an angle. To me, these felt like the most rational sort of hook you could get. While a simple nail would have sufficed, I made a few alterations. It struck me that if you could secure a nail at a set angle and length every time, then you could have beautiful hooks anywhere you could pound a nail in.