Spartan Daily - Serving San Jose State University since 1934

Issue date: 10/30/07 Section: News

Media Credit: COURTESY OF RUSSELL HENNING Russell Henning's backpacking stove, the Phoenix, includes a stove, stand, fuel, and wind screen, which can be assembled into one piece or taken apart.

When SJSU graduate Russell Henning created a portable backpacking stove for a senior project in the spring of 2006, he had no idea that the environmentally friendly cooker would go on to garner international recognition and become an award-winning design.

BraunPrize and Red Dot, two international organizations dedicated to finding and acknowledging innovative designs, selected Henning's design as part of their exhibitions. The latter also presented a 2006 Red Dot award to Henning for his backpacking stove.

The Phoenix, as it is called, was the project that Russell created as a requirement for his industrial design major.

John McClusky, industrial design associate professor, assigned a project called "Designing for Our Future Selves," which he said required students to come up with "the idea to design something that would accommodate our needs as we get older."

He added that Henning's idea of the stove originated from his own hobby as an avid backpacker, and his interest was to design a stove that would target grip-strength and dexterity problems that could arise as he ages.

McClusky said Henning deserves the awards and he feels very proud of his former student for his recent achievements.

"To excel in these types of competitions, you have to meet a lot of levels," he said. "You have to meet appropriate function, appropriate usability and superlative aesthetics."

Henning, who also has a degree in mechanical engineering, explained that his idea for the stove was to focus on its accessibility and usability. "I wanted to design it from the ground up, and was concentrating on making it efficient and lightweight," he said. "Everything about the stove is with an emphasis on environmental sustainability. I felt a strong responsibility as a designer to push those kinds of things forward in society, because I think we have a lot of responsibility to create trends that are morally sound."

The Phoenix comprises a cooker, stand, gasoline and wind deflector, according to the BraunPrize Web site. It described the stove as a "reliable solution for an outdoor gasoline cooker" and also stated that it "offers a high degree of robustness and is easy to operate."

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