The winners of the 2025 German iF Design Award were recently announced. An interdisciplinary collaboration between Associate Professor Fan Zhengyan's team (members: Xia Danni, Fan Yaoyao, Yang Nan, Wang Xuanqi, Zheng Hanfeng) from the Department of Design, School of Arts at Chongqing University and Professor Xue Fangzheng's team from the Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems (School of Automation) secured the award for their work "LU YU" Embedded Intelligent Tea Machine. Selected from tens of thousands of global entries, the team has been invited to the April award ceremony in Berlin, Germany. This achievement validates the efficacy of the design discipline's interdisciplinary talent development model integrating "values, capabilities, and practice."
Established in 1953, the German iF Design Award is globally renowned for its "independent, rigorous, and reliable" ethos. It stands among the "Big Three" international design accolades alongside the Red Dot and IDEA Awards. The 2025 jury comprised 131 independent design experts worldwide, with stringent criteria reflecting pinnacle contemporary design standards. The winning work - developed through two years of iterative refinement - triumphed over nearly 11,000 submissions from 66 countries, attesting to its exceptional competitiveness.
"LU YU" Embedded Intelligent Tea Machine is an embedded, recyclable smart tea brewer designed for office environments. Merging Chinese tea culture, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), and advanced AI algorithms, it integrates brewing, recycling, and cleaning systems. The product addresses health-focused tea consumption for high-intensity professionals while embodying eco-sustainable principles, leveraging technology and cultural depth to redefine design possibilities.
The Department of Design, School of Arts at Chongqing University champions a "cross-boundary synergy, integrated innovation, and empowerment" pedagogy. By collaborating with the University's strengths in automation, mechanical engineering, and big data, it builds interdisciplinary platforms to ignite students' artistic creativity and tech-application capabilities. Guided by cultural confidence and social responsibility, these initiatives foster innovative outcomes and pioneer new pathways for cultivating top-tier design talent in the new era.
