Kawaii home appliances explore the complicated nature of cuteness

Graduate shows 2016: a toaster that sneezes out bread crumbs and a vacuum cleaner that poos when it s full are among a range of cute products created by Royal College of Art graduate Hyerim Shin. The MA Design Products student explored the concept of kawaii, a Japanese term denoting cuteness, in her final project, producing three home appliances programmed to act in ways that might be considered cute. This means that when her Roombastyle robotic vacuum cleaner becomes full, it wiggles its bottom and