Hasta La Ideas

The purpose of this post is twofold. Not only is it a roundup of ten award-winning works that are worthy of your design inspiration mood board (go ahead and bookmark the page for use later!), it’s also a reminder that this is the last call for entries for the A’ Design Award and Competition, a competition that covers almost all categories of design. Furniture consistently ranks in the top 3 of A’ Design’s award categories, and we’ve pulled 10 noteworthy design from a hefty bunch.

We look at the top Furniture Designs from last year, creating a compilation of what A’ Design’s stellar 211-member international jury panel is worthy of winning the A’ Design Award. While we’re at it, do check out what winning an Award does for your Design Career, and don’t forget to head down to the A’ Design Award and Competition page to register to submit your design entries for the Award. The last date of submission is the 28th of February 2019, and the awards will be announced here on YD on the 15th of April!

LAST CALL! Register to participate in the A’ Design Awards now! Deadline: 28th February!

A’ Design Award 2018 Furniture Moodboard
01. Cocoon Lounge Chair by Timmy Kwok
Sitting on the Cocoon is a strangely comforting yet new experience. It looks a little revolutionary, no doubt… but sitting on it gives you an experience that’s difficult to actualize in words. Rest your body against it, and it feels like a hammock, with its woven fabric. However, it doesn’t consume you, like a hammock would. Lie down in a hammock, and the fabric gives in to the shape of your body… lie in the Cocoon, and it feels like you’ve still got some lumbar support. It feels more like a recliner than a hammock. And then there’s experience number three. Designed with a curved frame, the Cocoon swings to and fro, unlike a hammock that swings side by side. The Cocoon somehow manages to combine rocking, lounging, and relaxing all into one beautiful seating device perfect for a lazy afternoon with a cup of hot cocoa.

02. Renaissance Armchair by Zaria Ishkildina
Playing beautifully with a visual illusion called Moire, the Renaissance Chair styles itself on the form of the curule chair, an Ancient Roman chair design that was reserved for the highest of dignitaries, and was often a symbol of status and power. Designer Zaria Ishkildina took the chair’s form, altering the material from wood to multiple stainless steel tubes welded together. The result, although is a wireframe, feels less like one, and more like a modern, minimal (in terms of material choice, rather than abundance) throne.

03. Exo Chair by Svilen Gamolov
The Exo Chair’s memorable postmodern-esque design is quite worthy of being on the mood board because it looks completely unique from the top, front, and side. Designed to look like a rectangle from the front, an intersecting square and circle from the top, and a relatively abstract shape from the side, the Exo’s experimental design immediately looks eye-catching and inviting.

04. Petalis Sound Amplifier by Ismail Gunes Otken
The Petalis is a decorative element with an unusual function. Formed out of thick aluminum sheets, the flower-inspired Petalis works like an acoustic mirror, directing sound-waves to a user, or to a specific area. Televisions or speakers with 360° sound are often at a disadvantage when placed near or mounted on a wall. The Petalis helps guide the sound being thrown towards the sides, curving the sound-waves (much like the cone of a trumpet or gramophone) and helping amplify it by focusing the waves rather than letting them scatter. The Petalis comprises multiple individual ‘petals’ that can be wall-mounted in any way that works for you, both aesthetically and acoustically.

05. Joseph Felt Chair by Windels Lothar
The Joseph Felt chair, interestingly, is made from a single sandwiched sheet/ply of felt and foam. Folded in its clumsy, crumply style, the sheet (although pretty thick) turns into a 3D form, forming an armchair complete with a backrest and two armrests. The entire chair is held together by three well-positioned rivets, and is highly reminiscent of a chair sketch by Nick Baker!

06. The Dialogue Clock by Evgenia Dymkina
The Dialogue Clock’s unique design draws attention to a few things. Firstly, its immediate separation of the usually concentric coaxial watch hands. Not only do the watch hands now exist one beside the other, they also turn the positive space into negative, making the hand a cutout in a white dial. This allows the two dials (hour and minute) to look like pacman-ish faces that rotate in their place, only facing each other twice in the entire day (at 3:45). The rather unusual design of the Dialogue clock also opens it up to a lot of other explorations. Can you think of a few?

07. Darkside Stool/Side Table by Romulo Teixeira and Cintia Miyahira
Serving a reminder that inspiration can be found anywhere, even in the ever nourishing domain of art, the Darkside Stool/Side-Table pays tribute to one of the most influential music albums of our time, and its album art, that is an icon in itself. Made from Stainless Steel and Acrylic, the stool has all the visual elements from the background. The triangular prism finds itself at the base of the stool, made of stainless steel and colored black, while the prismatic material forms the acrylic seat on top. Lastly, the seven colors of the spectrum form supports for the acrylic seat (although there are only six here, to give the seating bilateral symmetry).

08. Dodo Multifunctional Chair by Mohammad Enjavi Amiri
‘Do’ means dual, or two, in Urdu and Hindi. The Dodo, by that definition perfectly describes this absolutely ingenious shapeshifting piece of furniture that shifts between two forms, and can go from chair to stool to coffee table, simply by folding one edge inwards on itself. Designed from individual beechwood slats, with stainless steel joineries and hinges, the Dodo chair can exist in two forms (open and closed), and just by doing that, can serve multiple purposes, from a barstool, to chair, to table, to even a bookshelf! Truly versatile piece of furniture, I say!

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LAST CALL! Register to participate in the A’ Design Awards now! Deadline: 28th February!