Finalist 2024

The NON Stopper

Aaron Trotman / Todd Vanneste / Neuti Seo

The NON Stopper blends polished stainless steel with playful rubber, combining luxury and aesthetics in a simple, minimal form.

The NON Stopper was designed to preserve carbonation and prevent wastage of NON’s products for up to 7 days when kept cold.

The solution is non-mechanical, optimised for user experience and inspired by the space-age aesthetic.

It’s an honest design without any necessary components - an artefact of the NON brand.

Design Brief:

We wanted to design a bottle stopper that preserved beverage freshness and prevented waste, while aligning with NON’s artistic, minimalist aesthetic.

The challenge was to create a marketable, functional item for both home and bar settings that maximised utility without compromising style. The solution needed to explore gesturing, materiality, and aesthetics, blending the past with the present.

The resulting NON Stopper features a simple, minimal form using stainless steel for a luxurious, polished finish and rubber for a playful, space-age look, achieving both functionality and visual appeal.


This project was developed by:

Design Process

The NON Stopper project showcases a meticulous professional design process, evident through its iterative prototyping and rigorous testing. The design team used advanced techniques like 3D printing, metal bending, and stamping to perfect the form and user experience. The use of durable materials like stainless steel and food-safe silicone, without adhesives, underscores a commitment to quality and sustainability.

The NON Stopper exceeds the design brief by combining a unique, space-age aesthetic with an airtight seal that preserves carbonation for up to seven days. Its minimalistic form and material contrast align perfectly with NON’s brand identity, enhancing the user experience. Focusing on material behaviour over mechanical principles, the design highlights complexity and innovation behind its simplicity.

This project reinforces NON’s ethos of redefining social drinking culture with elevated, non-alcoholic offerings.

Design Excellence

The NON Stopper epitomises exceptional design by seamlessly blending functionality, aesthetics, and sustainability. Its dual-material construction, combining polished stainless steel and playful rubber, ensures a secure, airtight seal that preserves beverage carbonation for up to seven days, exemplifying top-tier functionality. The minimalistic, space-age aesthetic aligns with NON’s brand, delivering a visually striking yet practical product. The use of food-safe materials and the elimination of adhesives underscore the stopper’s commitment to safety and quality.

The NON Stopper’s design prioritises user experience. Its intuitive slide-on mechanism and leak-proof seal make it easy to use, whether at home or in a bar. The compact size optimises shipping and storage, and the low material intensity highlights sustainable design practices. Iterative prototyping and extensive testing ensured a product that meets rigorous standards for durability and performance.

This project sets a new benchmark for design excellence in Victoria and beyond. It demonstrates the profound impact of professional design, blending innovative material behaviour with user-centric functionality. The NON Stopper’s holistic design approach showcases the benefits of investing in high-quality design, positioning it as a standard-bearer for future projects in Australia and internationally.

Design Innovation

The NON Stopper addresses the challenge of preserving non-alcoholic beverages in an innovative and unique manner. By blending polished stainless steel with playful rubber, the design ensures an airtight seal that preserves carbonation for up to seven days, solving the problem of freshness and preventing waste. This inventive use of contrasting materials meets functional requirements while enhancing aesthetic appeal, perfectly aligning with NON’s minimalist, artistic brand identity.

The stopper creates new opportunities by departing from conventional designs. Its simple, slide-on mechanism and leak-proof seal are user-friendly, suitable for both home and bar settings. The compact, low-material design optimises shipping and storage, showcasing a commitment to sustainability. Iterative prototyping and extensive testing ensured durability and performance without compromising style.

The NON Stopper is unique in its approach to material behaviour, focusing on a non-mechanical solution that relies on material properties rather than traditional mechanical parts. This ground-breaking feature sets a new standard in the industry, emphasising simplicity and functionality.

User-centred design is at the core of the NON Stopper. It meets user needs with an intuitive, easy-to-use product that enhances the NON beverage experience. The stopper’s innovative design not only preserves the drink but also complements the brand experience, making it a standout example of design excellence. This project sets a benchmark for innovative design, demonstrating how imaginative solutions can solve legitimate problems while creating new opportunities.

Design Impact

The NON Stopper project delivers significant positive impacts on society, the economy, and the environment. By enhancing the customer experience of NON’s non-alcoholic wines, the design fosters community and inclusivity, appealing to both drinkers and non-drinkers. This aligns with the increasing societal shift towards health and wellness, promoting non-alcoholic options in social settings.

The design extends beverage shelf life, reducing waste by allowing single-glass servings over seven days in both home and bar settings. Its low material intensity and simple manufacturing process, using just three components—stainless steel and silicone—demonstrate a commitment to sustainability. The absence of mechanical components further minimises environmental impact, adhering to circular economy principles by designing out waste and using minimal materials.

Commercially, the NON Stopper reinforces NON’s brand values, contributing to a loyal customer base and encouraging consumers to immerse themselves in NON’s world. This promotes the importance of investing in professional design, showcasing how thoughtful design enhances product offerings and customer experiences.

The project enhances Victoria’s reputation for design excellence. By prioritising user experience over technological complexity, it sets a new standard for industrial design, urging designers to focus on long-term benefits and sustainable practices. The NON Stopper exemplifies the power of professional design in creating impactful, user-centred solutions, positioning Victoria as a leader in innovative and sustainable design practices both nationally and internationally

Circular and Sustainability Criteria

The NON Stopper sets a benchmark in circular design and sustainability. Using only three recyclable components - stainless steel and silicone - it ensures minimal environmental impact. The design prioritises low material use, simple manufacturing, and easy disassembly.

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