A folding plug was named overall winner at the Brit Insurance Design Awards 2010.

A folding plug designed to fold flat for easy transportation has been crowned the overall winner at the 2010 Brit Insurance Design Awards in London.

British student Min-Kyu Choi beat off stiff competition from over 90 nominees to win the Brit Insurance Design of the Year 2010. Min-Kyu designed a folding plug in response to transportation issues he was having with the cumbersome regular design. The young designer noticed scratches on his MacBook Air – the world’s thinnest laptop – from the plug and sought a solution to the problem.

British Sculpture and Jury Chair, Antony Gormley – best known for designing the famous Angel of the North in Gateshead, UK – presented Min-Kyu with his award.

“Thought-through, responsive and modest, the folding plug shows how intelligent, elegant and inventive design can make a difference to everyone’s life,” commented Mr Gormley on why Min-Kyu was the deserving winner.

This is not the first accolade for Min-Kyu’s design. In 2009 it scooped a gold medal in the International Design Excellence Awards and earlier this year was also named a finalist in the Wallpaper Design Awards 2010.

Director of the Design Museum, Deyan Sujic, said: “It’s great to see such a practical but elegant demonstration of what design can do to make everyday life so much better. Min-Kyu Choi is a designer just setting out on his career and he clearly has a great future ahead of him.”

Last year’s winner of the Brit Insurance Design Award was Shepard Fairey in 2009 for his iconic ‘Obama Hope’ poster. This year British fashion designer Alexander McQueen, who died in February, was posthumously awarded the Brit Insurance Fashion Award.

The plug is on exhibition at the Design Museum in London until 31 October 2010 and it is anticipated that the plug could be released later this year following extensive health and safety testing.