VESSEL’s Ball-Grip Screwdriver No.220 was awarded the 2021 Good Design Long Life Design Award (sponsored by the Japan Institute of Design Promotion (JDP)).

Since its launch in 1984, the Ball-Grip Screwdriver has been constantly improved and upgraded in response to changes in the environment and industry. This screwdriver is now a best-selling product, supported mainly by electricians with a praise for its ease of use and durability that have not changed since its appearance in the market. Our constant efforts of product improvement and reliability of the product were highly evaluated and thus awarded.

We will continue to practice our corporate slogan, “Let us think”, and strive to improve our brand image, by offering to customers original ideas that solve their problems, and by pursuing the quality and designs so that our products are used with safe and comfort.

 

Product Summary

In the 1930s, there was a Japanese-specific style, so-called "Bodhidharma-shaped", screwdriver for electric work with a wooden handle.

"The grip part has a large ball shape, and it was designed for the purpose of tightening wood screws while pressing. And VESSEL started ""resin molding"" of the screwdriver grips from the early 1980s, when it became difficult to obtain wood materials due to restrictions on logging leading to destruction of environment and when we were working hard to create a series of screwdrivers with resin-made handle.
And it was the Ball-Grip screwdriver that was sophisticatedly redesigned while inheriting the features of the conventional wooden handle screwdriver for electric work."

 

Jury Evaluation

With the changing times, it is the evolution of design that a product changes its design such as shapes, sizes, materials, etc. little by little, like many industrial products and daily necessities do.

And the tools for making, maintaining, and installing the product also need to change at the same time.
The Ball-Grip screwdrivers have been evolving over a long period of time, changing shapes, materials, and functions little by little with the times.

It may be a change that many people overlook because such tool exists in the close distance as a familiar one, but it is indeed the proof of a long life design that it supports the changing times and society by continuing to be delicately upgraded.