Street Swags, a bed and a bag designed in Australia to provide more comfort, warmth and protection from weather for people living on the street that can be made low-skilled workers while minimizing waste of raw materials, has won a prestigious international ward. Made of lightweight, waterproofed canvas with a high-density foam mattress, Street Swags offers its users a degree of comfort, warmth, and protection from the weather and its discreet appearance offers some safety for those who need to be ‘invisible.’ The bag also has room for some personal belongings.

Street Swags was founded in 2005 by Australian school teacher Jean Madden, who lives in Brisbane, after watching a documentary on homelessness that highlighted the negative effects lack of sleep and sleeping on cement had on physical and mental health. “I designed the Street Swag in 2005 because I felt it wasn’t good enough that people in my community were sleeping on concrete each night,” she said. “My unique portable bed was designed to ease some of the health issues related to homelessness and sleeping rough.”

"After speaking with local charities, government bodies and people sleeping rough, we found it was important to create a swag that was practical, portable, easy to roll up, waterproof and cheap,” she said. "We also found it was important to create a swag that did not look like bedding when it was being carried to preserve the dignity of its users and to make them less likely to be stolen.”

Street Swags, a not-for-profit organisation that relies on donations from the public to keep producing and distributing swags to the homeless, has just won the People’s Choice award at the 2009 Index Awards in Denmark.

“Street Swags has empowered and brought together all levels of the community,” the award citation noted. “Corporate and private entities donate funds. Prisoners sew, gaining work readiness skills and recognized qualifications. Aboriginal communities gain government employment, home industry skills, and a finished product for their families. School children roll and pack Street Swags with blankets, pillows, hygiene packs, and knitted winter essentials as part of their school’s Social Justice Program. Numerous aid organizations such as St. Vincent De Paul and Salvation Army, hospitals, community groups, and volunteers distribute them across Australia.”

Madden credits all the organizations and volunteers who are part of the project. “This is how I have been able to give away over 10,000 Street Swags to those sleeping rough. This community network recently allowed me to have hundreds of Street Swags ready for the Victorian bush fire victims within hours of their becoming homeless.”

“The world economic crisis means a world homelessness crisis. Like a Soup Kitchen, Street Swags are about keeping people alive. We have begun making Street Swags for aid and emergency relief organizations outside Australia. We are working to set up industry and microfinance in Kolkata and East Timor to increase production.”

The INDEX:Award is the biggest design award in the world, with a total award sum of 500,000 euros, financed by the state of Denmark, and receives nominations from China to the United States, from Finland to South Africa, from Singapore to Jordan. Founded in 2002 as a nonprofit Danish organization, its goal is to inspire design worldwide that responds to the needs of people in societies, both developed and developing.

"We are perhaps best-known for our biennial presentation of the world's largest award for design," says Index CEO Kigge Hvid, "a 500,000-euro purse divided evenly among winners in five categories and the only one focusing only on design that substantially improves the lives of people.”  The award is given in five categories; Body, Home, Work, Play and Community. Other INDEX projects include:

• A large-scale world-touring exhibition presenting the award finalists, presented at a central public square in hosting cities with free admission to showcase how the world can be improved through design.
• Summer Camps and Design Challenges engage design and business students from all over the world in designing to improve life.
• Outreach to students, children, teachers, professionals, companies, public authorities, seniors etc. with services, knowledge and inspiration about Design to Improve Life.
• Designing the first ever package for teaching Design to Improve Life among primary and lower-secondary pupils and high school students, a web-based format serving students and teachers within the curriculum of social studies. After piloting on a business high school, a technical high school and a traditional high school in November the material will be made available for all schools on an open source basis.

The picture comes from the Index website.