Another Kind of Hot... Rare Gold Award for Philly Product Design Firm

Philadelphia, PA – July 19, 2006 – Philadelphia’s well known product design firm, Bresslergroup, has been awarded a prestigious Gold Award in this year’s Industrial Design Excellence Awards (IDEA). A record 1,494 entries from 28 countries yielded just 27 IDEA Gold Awards. Bresslergroup is receiving the highest international product design industry recognition for its design of an advanced smoke detector that lets parents record their own voice to wake their kids in a home fire emergency.

“Recognition in our industry, at this level, happens when a design team can identify important human needs in everyday life and create new approaches or improvements that are immediately understood and embraced by consumers,” said Peter Bressler, Principal, Bresslergroup. “The impact is even greater when your work helps save lives.”

According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, more than 1,200 children under age 14 die in home fires each year in this county and more than 40,000 children are seriously injured. Nearly 55% of children ages 5 and under who die from home fires are asleep at the time.

The Philadelphia design firm developed the winning design of the SignalOne™ Safety Vocal Smoke Detector for its client SignalOne Safety, Atlanta. Research conducted at University of Georgia and Victoria University in Australia found that a recorded, familiar or parental voice woke 100% of children studied versus only 57% who woke to the traditional tone or beeping alarm.

Bressler and the winning product design team will accept their Gold Award in September at a black tie ceremony during the Industrial Designers Society of America National Conference in Austin, TX.

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