Malaysia-based designer Poh Liang Hock had an idea so simple, it almost pains to admit no one had thought of it before - a standing broom. Rather than attaching a poll to bristles at the base, Hock modified the business part of the broom, making it both a platform to stand upon and a weighted anchor to keep the broom vertical. Here is how he reflects on the time when the idea was born:

My friends and I rented a house a few years ago. Like every other tenant, we had to clean our house from time to time. A broom, dustpan, and mop were all necessary tools in the process. However, amidst the cleaning process, the broom kept falling to the ground whenever I leaned it against the wall for some fresh air. As a result, I came out with the vision of solving this problem once and for all: how could I keep the damned broom from falling down.

The Standing Broom concept is a winner of the Red Dot Award in Domestic Aid category.