From cleaning products to home organization innovation, the International Housewares Association (IHA) has announced the 21 honorees of its fifth annual Design Defined product design recognition at the 2009 International Home + Housewares Show held at Chicago's McCormick Place March 22-24.

The 27 products (from 21 companies) were selected by Design Finders, teams of young designers, experienced practitioners and educators from the University of Illinois-Chicago's Interdisciplinary Product Development Program. They scoured hundreds of exhibitors in the Clean + Contain Expo in the North Building, searching for products that exemplified a commitment to design while achieving a solution to common household cleaning, storage and home décor issues.

"The purpose of the Design Defined program is to bring attention to those companies that have placed a premium on quality design," said Phil Brandl, president of IHA, which owns and operates the show.

"This year's Design Defined honorees showed the continued commitment of the housewares industry to integrate design and innovation into their new product launches," said Stephen Melamed, IDSA, Design Defined facilitator, a professor in the UIC industrial design department and president of Tres Design Group. "It was also significantly demonstrated that many companies are now actively moving toward the manufacture of more sustainable products. The Design Finders recognized Casabella's eclipse™ line of new products as the first to receive a Silver Cradle-to-Cradle(SM) rating. No longer merely coloring a new product a shade of green and adding marketing 'feel good' language on the packaging; companies are now serious about this commitment to the environment and their customers."

Design Finders evaluated products according to five standard design criteria:
Innovation: How is the design new and unique?
Aesthetics: How does the appearance enhance the product?
User: How does the design solution benefit the user?
Environment: How is the product ecologically responsible?
Impact: How did or might the product impact the market and the company's business?

Companies receive a Design Defined logo to use in their packaging and promotion for the life of the selected product in the marketplace. The Design Defined honorees are: Caddy Concepts; Capstone Industries, Inc.; Casabella Holdings LLC; DSC Products; For The Ages, Inc.; Full Circle; Home Zone Int. Corp.; IMS/Trading Clean Logic Bath & Body Care; Jaws Intl. Ltd.; Jokari/U.S., Inc.; LG Lite Group; Like-It Co., Ltd.; Organize-It-All, Inc.; Neat-Oh! International LLC; Really Useful Products; simplehuman; The Green Garmento; Three by Three, Inc.; Turkish Pavilion/IMMIB; Umbra LLC; Zibra LLC.