Swedish industrial design duo Lars Wettre and Jonas Forsman ignited the flames of creativity to innovate within the realm of safety by designing a new breed of fire extinguisher, and earning themselves a red dot design award in the aftermath.
Praised for turning “an everyday object into one that wants to be looked at,” the Firephant bears the red color of traditional fire extinguishers, but breaks stereotype by also being produced in black and white. Its curved shape is reminiscent of an elephant’s trunk, undoubtedly contributing to a name that bears witness to the modified aesthetic. The intuitive form of the Firephant is another contributing factor to its appeal, in that operation is self-explanatory. The gently bent handle protruding from the length of the nozzle only needs to be released from the safety clip before the user can point and shoot, in case of fire.
The Firephant is easy to maneuver in both its 1 kg and 2 kg sizes. The 1 kg Firephant is ideal as a portable extinguisher to take in a boat or car; while the 2 kg Firephant contains the highest extinguishing power of its class, ideally suited to effectively squelch smaller household fires.
Firephant 1 kg: 114 mm diameter x 279 mm height.
Fire rating: ABC
Efficiency rating: 8A 34B C
Certification: CE
Firephant 2 kg: 114 mm diameter x 374 mm height.
Efficiency rating: 13A 89B C
Certification: CE
designer: wettre and forsman
producer: gpbm nordic
period: 2012
design award: best of the best in product design, red dot 2012
