Come Back Home: The Blog Of Andrew Kim is about a young man's ambitious vision for an eco-friendly consumerist future. 18-year-old Korean-born, and now Vancouver resident, Andrew Kim currently attends the College for Creative Studies in Detroit and started a blog in 2007 to showcase his design projects. Andrew's work is smart, fresh, and eye-catching. Trust me, there's something very alluring about looking at sleek and sophisticated product designs. This talented young man is also the brain behind the design of the Eco Coke bottle.
When I first came across Andrew's design for Eco Coke I was, needless to say, impressed. The idea behind Eco Coke is an innovative, unique and reinvented design of the standard Coke bottle. Andrew explains,
"The premise of the Eco Coke is to maximize the efficiency of the bottle by creating one that does not waste space. Compared to a round bottle, a square bottle can have a 27% smaller footprint."
Probably the coolest feature of the Eco Coke bottle is how it can be collapsed after use, which is a great way to reduce space when being transported for recycling. Pretty eco-chic, if you ask me.
Behind every great design there is always a source of inspiration. For Andrew, his main inspiration was simple: To create a greener bottle.
"Coca-Cola is a very large company and I felt that even a small change could bring a huge environmental benefit. The design philosophy is that many small changes can lead to a very big change."
Most of us do not figure out what we really want to do until we're in our late 20's and older, because we're constantly seraching for inspiration. For Andrew, however, he's narrowed it down to two simple elements - nature and culture.
"It's never my intention but all of my designs seem to have something to do with nature, whether it be a 'green' aspect or just an appreciation of the beauty of nature. Culture is also a big theme I like to explore, as I believe that our designs will become the artifacts of our civilization."
At such a young age, Andrew already has a clear vision of what he wants to accomplish with his work and how he wants to make a difference. Such determination and maturity is hard to come by these days.
The Eco Coke project was only a "quick" freshman midterm project, but the press this design has been receiving is something Andrew never could have even imagined would happen. Though it was a mere midterm design at first, Andrew does feel like he would have done some things differently: "I feel that I could have done many more things with the bottle. If I were to create a second version, well ... it would look quite different." Such are the words of a perfectionist, so it would seem.
So did Coke respond to Andrew's design? Though Andrew never had any intention of getting a reaction from the public and press, let alone Coca-Cola, he received a response from David Butler, head of design at Coca-Cola in a financial publication: "I love the thinking and especially the way it provides a great example of how we have to think big and leverage systems thinking in designing for our brands." Butler also stated the tremendous brand equity they have in the traditional "contour bottle" and how it would be quite hard to change that. Andrew must be doing something right if someone as big as the head of design at Coca-Cola is responding to his designs.
While this project was target for the Coca-Cola Company, Andrew has other aspirations: "My biggest interest is in high-tech design. Obviously, Apple is a brand I love but companies like Lacie are also of great interest to me as they have a sense of obligation for artistic design."
For Andrew, life after Eco Coke is as busy as ever. "I am designing a conceptual convergence product for finals right now. It's called "Monami" and will be aimed at the laptop user. It'll be completed at the end of this month. I am also working on a more long-term project that is around the theme of nutrition and vitamins."
You can stay up to date with Andrew's newest design ideas in his blog here.
