Infuriating Objects

• Sensor-sational – a spice rack that self-detects when its spices are out of date.
• Toasty Tray – a stylish tray that keeps your food heated without burning your knees.
• Slide n Wipe – a toilet roll holder with an extendable sliding bracket which brings the toilet roll closer to the user.

These are just some of the 15 prototypes developed by IOCT™ (Internet of Caring Things®) programme by the National Innovation Centre for Ageing (NICA) to reimagine some of the most frustrating everyday objects and offer innovative design solutions to improve them.

In this free, family-friendly interactive exhibition running over the Half-Term holidays, you have the opportunity to try them out and explore how we might transform everyday annoyances into delightful experiences.

About the project

Curated by IOCT™, Infuriating Objects is the result of a creative challenge initiated earlier this year, where sixteen members of the public joined IOCT™’s human experience feedback panel, Voice™, to explore ways to improve everyday objects that often leave their users feeling irritated. The mission invited participants to identify those small but vexing object these ‘infuriating objects’ – from leaky toothpaste tubes to inconveniently designed lamps – and how they could be enhanced or “hacked” to work better.

Following months of hard work by the team at IOCT™ together with community members, several of these design concepts have now been brought to life as 3D prototypes. The exhibition features these prototypes, along with practical, hands-on activities that allow visitors of all ages to engage with the ideas, experiment with design hacks, and even contribute their own suggestions for “infuriating objects” that could be improved.

Photo credit: ‘Poppa Pill’ prototype. Image © Internet of Caring Things® programme