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 Roomba-style robotic vacuum cleaner becomes full, it wiggles its “bottom“ and