Tag Archives: A’ Design Award and Competition

The Perfect Playground: Miniature Cityscape-shaped Furniture Designed for Inquisitive Cats

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Cats are perhaps the most adaptable creatures around. They’re perfectly independent in the wild, have the same survival instincts in the urban jungle, and even when kept indoors, are just as capable of figuring stuff out. A lot of that boils down to the cat being an innately curious, hands-on animal that isn’t afraid to say no to a new challenge. Designed for these cats, the Mocats Multifunctional Cat Furniture lets indoor cats have a taste of the outdoor world. Shaped like a city skyline, the adaptable, modular furniture gives cats their own buildings, apartments, and roofs to explore and conquer. The modular design allows cat-parents to build out the kind of toy that fits their space perfectly. Undulating rooftops add a wonderful touch to the home’s decor, while providing a uniquely intricate piece of furniture for your cat to explore and rest in.

Designer: La Jato del Gato

The brains behind Mocats are a pair of architects and devoted cat owners who understand the delicate balance between feline comfort and human aesthetics. Their inspiration stems from the idea of creating adaptable spaces that cater to the ever-changing needs of cats and their owners. In short, when your cats grow in size or in numbers (or even when they get bored of the old layout), the Mocats can be expanded or altered to keep your furry friends engaged. These cat-scale spaces are built on the principles of flexibility and growth, ensuring that your pet’s furniture evolves with them.

Mocats takes the interaction between humans and cats to a new level. The act of assembling each module and configuring various circuits becomes a bonding experience between human and cat. Owners are given the freedom to choose the pieces and configurations that suit their lifestyle, enhancing the connection between them and their feline companions.

At the heart of Mocats is its modular design, which allows your cat to scratch, climb, hide, observe, sleep, and play to their heart’s content. But it doesn’t stop there – these eco-friendly furniture pieces seamlessly integrate into your home’s decor, adapting to your lifestyle and available spaces. Crafted from cardboard and plywood, Mocats utilizes a manufacturing process that excludes toxic additives, only relying on traditional fixtures like dowels and washers, and ensuring the safety and well-being of your pets. Digital design programs and laser cutting technology are employed to create precise templates and components, bringing down production costs while making assembly a breeze.

The Mocats Multifunctional Cat Furniture is a Silver Winner of the A’ Design Award for the year 2023.

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This ‘2D Chandelier’ turns your Entire Ceiling into a Canvas of Thrilling Light Patterns

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Chandeliers were originally designed as symbols of sheer opulence. Made to hold multiple candles in a grandiose way hanging from a high ceiling to illuminate a large hall. The candles were replaced with bulbs but the grandiosity only increased as chandeliers could now use crystals and other ornamental materials. The point is, chandeliers were inherently designed to be vertical, hanging from high ceilings. The Hexa Light challenges that notion with a ‘horizontal’ chandelier design that occupies the area of your ceiling like a 2D fixture rather than a 3D one. The result is two-fold – firstly, wider coverage of light, allowing the Hexa to illuminate a place more effectively, and secondly, a beautiful 2D light fixture that turns your ceiling into a canvas for its unique patterns.

Designer: Sepehr Mehrdadfar

The inspiration behind Hexa Light traces its roots to traditional Iranian architectural decorations. The design’s geometric pattern, reminiscent of “Girih” and “miniature” motifs, showcases intricate interlaced strapwork patterns. The result? A captivating blend of cultural iconography and modern technology.

Split into multiple individual modules, the Hexa Light achieves a dual purpose by offering broad and localized lighting modes. Its modular design, resembling a third of a hexagon, enables endless compositional possibilities, enhancing both aesthetics and functionality. It forms a mesmerizing geometric network when its modules coexist, providing ambient lighting and adding a decorative touch to any space. Moreover, its unique linear module design leaves empty spaces between lights, preserving the ceiling cover while illuminating the room.

Crafted from extruded aluminum profiles, each module houses energy-efficient LEDs and is adorned with Plexiglas diffusers. The clever integration of magnets and a fixture for electric wires ensures a seamless and flexible lighting solution. Although better appreciated as a hanging light-piece (above), the Hexa can also be built into a faux ceiling (shown below) for a more integrated design.

The Hexa Light is a Silver Winner of the A’ Design Award for the year 2023.

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Exploring the Jaipur Furniture Collection: A Fusion of Tradition and Modernity

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When it comes to furniture design, there are pieces that simply transcend function and become works of art. The Jaipur Furniture Collection by Sonal Tuli is precisely that — an exquisite fusion of tradition and modernity that pays homage to the vibrant pink city of Jaipur, India.

The primary function of the Jaipur Furniture Collection is to serve as functional furniture. Yet, it transcends this purpose by encapsulating the spirit and legacy of Jaipur itself. It masterfully incorporates design elements derived from Jaipur’s iconic architecture and the intricate art of blue pottery. Each piece within this collection, including the Jaipur sideboard, chandelier, mirror, and rug, serves as a modern homage to the city’s cultural richness and traditional crafts.

Designer: Sonal Tuli

The true essence of this collection, however, lies in its craftsmanship. Handcrafted in India, every piece showcases the skill and artistry of local craftsmen. The strategic use of white marble and lapis lazuli, complemented by stone inlay and overlay techniques, adds an aura of opulence and timelessness to the furniture. These techniques, deeply rooted in India’s heritage, demand a level of expertise passed down through generations.

Beyond aesthetics, the Jaipur Furniture Collection effortlessly balances functionality and elegance. For instance, the Jaipur sideboard unveils a glimpse of pink when its shutter is opened—a subtle nod to Jaipur’s famous pink sandstone. When illuminated, the Jaipur chandelier and pendant breathe life into traditional patterns inspired by lapis lazuli against the backdrop of pristine white marble. Even the Jaipur mirror offers versatility through its backlit knobs.

For Sonal, the journey from conceptualization to realization was not devoid of challenges. Originally envisioned with delicate blue pottery tiles, the collection had to pivot towards more durable materials, such as white marble, due to practical constraints. Furthermore, the Jaipur console underwent a redesign to facilitate ease of transportation.

The Jaipur Furniture Collection is a Gold Winner of the A’ Design Award for the year 2023.

The post Exploring the Jaipur Furniture Collection: A Fusion of Tradition and Modernity first appeared on Yanko Design.

Pizza Oven or Party Prop? This quirky Disco Ball Pizza Oven adds Glam and Gluten to your kitchen!

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Marcus Cresswell’s mirror-studded Disco Ball Pizza Oven drops the beat while raising the crust!

I’m not sure if I love this oven more than the pizza going inside it, but Cresswell’s disco ball-shaped pizza-maker definitely has my attention. Standing at 5.7 feet tall and measuring 3.6 feet wide, the pizza oven rotates independently on its base like a disco ball would, and comes studded with over 34,000 tiny hand-fitted mirror units that give this oven its signature style. The inside features a stone core with a cordierite cooking base that lets the oven hit temperatures of 400°C (752°F), allowing it to cook a perfect Neapolitan-style pizza in under 90 seconds. Gluten never looked this glamorous!

Designer: Marcus Cresswell

While most pizza ovens are built for utility, Cresswell’s “Discovens” has an appearance that’s almost jewel-like. The spherical pizza oven stands on a stable platform that also allows it to independently rotate 360°, giving the 34,000 mirrors on its surface a chance to reflect light in unique ways. The disco ball also cooks pizzas, breads, and other sorts of baked dishes in under a few minutes thanks to its ripping-hot temperatures.

The oven features a stone core and comes with a cordierite base that helps it reach temperatures higher than ceramics. Quite like traditional wood-fired ovens seen in Italy and around the world, the ‘Discovens’ can hit high temperatures of 750°F in just under 20 minutes, allowing it to cook pizzas and other breads at incredibly high speeds to develop that beautiful crispy burnt outer crust while the insides still remain incredibly soft and flavorful.

Developed over a period of 3 years, Cresswell’s made 5 prototypes of the Discovens that have gone to their respective patrons and pizzaiolos. The pizza oven comes pre-assembled, and accepts wood as fuel to cook your pizza pie. “A lot of research went into the shape of the stone core oven; for air flow (diameter, length and position of the flue, and size, length and shape of oven mouth, for the best air draw), and ratio of air flow and oven size (using fibonacci sequence) for best functionality,” Cresswell mentions. The oven takes 20-25 minutes to heat up to a working temperature range of 350-400°C, and roughly 4-6 hours to cool down. While the mirrors look incredibly eye-catching, it’s professionally recommended that children stay away from the oven while it’s in use. Each oven also comes with an insulating door for controlled-temperature cooking, letting you slow-cook skillets and steak meals.

The Discovens Pizza Oven is a Bronze Winner of the A’ Design Award for the year 2023.

The post Pizza Oven or Party Prop? This quirky Disco Ball Pizza Oven adds Glam and Gluten to your kitchen! first appeared on Yanko Design.

This Concert Hall’s undulating facade pays homage to the Bilbao Guggenheim by Frank Gehry

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“Tension is a material property that creates both music and architecture”, says designer Lihan Jin, alluding to their concert hall’s unique facade. Architecture is often referred to as ‘frozen music’ – a term that pretty much describes the Tension Instrument Concert Hall’s unique, eye-catching design. While most designers try to guide a viewer’s eyes on a journey, the Tension Instrument Concert Hall doesn’t. Instead, it invites you to look in every direction, absorbing everything at once, sort of like a chorus of walls that come together to create structural harmony.

Designer: Lihan Jin

“The project is based on the study of architecture and music. The design focuses on how to take the inspiration from the intangible music and present it in the tangible architectural space. The design ultimately combines the two through “tension”,” Jin mentions.

The insides of the hall are just about as chaotically beautiful as the outsides. The bent wooden elements really do a wonderful job of being the characteristic design element. They break up the space into unique segments, which are then used to create different seating levels and balconies that face a stage, located right in the room’s center. Music from the stage radiates outwards, bouncing off the walls and facades in an uneven way to create unique reverbs and delays. The feeling, I imagine, is just as captivating to the ears as it is to the eyes!

The Tension Instrument Concert Hall is a Gold Winner of the A’ Design Award for the year 2023.

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Unusual herringbone-inspired table is a visual fusion of wood and glass

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Inspiration can sometimes come from the unlikeliest of places, as is evident with the Herringbone Table. Taking visual cues from the herringbone tree’s shape, the table abstracts that form by using a clever interplay between wood and glass to create something that looks skeletal but isn’t. Found in wintry areas dominated by coniferous flora, the herringbone tree’s leaves have a pointy, skeletal shape, which is almost reminiscent of the herringbone fish’s skeleton. Although one would deem the source of inspiration to be unconventional, the table’s design reinterprets it beautifully, creating something that has a unique take on positive and negative forms, while still serving well as a table.

Designer: Alexandre Caldas

The herringbone tree is a perfect example of nature removing anything superfluous and retaining only the essentials. Take a look at the tree and it almost looks like a cactus in the arctic. The leaves are thin and pointy, as are the tree’s branches. Alexandre Caldas believed in translating this approach into his furniture. The resulting table reflects that approach by removing/conserving wood (a natural resource) and opting for recyclable glass instead.

Barring the central channel, the table doesn’t use any long pieces of wood. The two ends help prop up the plate of glass, while skeletal ribs (that are half-lap jointed into the central channel) help support the glass plate. The entire table is made from certified American Walnut, while Caldas’ plan is to make future units out of pine wood, paying true homage to the herringbone’s origins.

“[The table was made’ using certified solid wood, using the least amount of glue possible, using one of the world’s most recycled resources (glass), along with the know-how of master craftsmen with traditional woodworking techniques,” designer Alexandre Caldas said.

The Herringbone Table is a Bronze Winner of the A’ Design Award for the year 2023.

The post Unusual herringbone-inspired table is a visual fusion of wood and glass first appeared on Yanko Design.

Table that ‘rolls up’ like a Yoga Mat demonstrates wood craftsmanship at its absolute finest

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You’ve heard of folding tables, but have you ever come across a ‘rolling table’? No, I’m not talking about tables that roll around with wheels at the bottom. The Sofan is a table that quite literally ‘rolls up’ like a really large burrito or a yoga mat, making it easy to carry around with you. It uses a series of folding legs and a segmented upper tabletop surface that rolls up to become a cylindrical mass that’s compact enough to carry under your arm.

Designer: Qi An

The way the Sofan table works is just remarkably clever. The table’s foldable legs act as a framework for the entire product, giving it rigidity. The legs fold flat when they’re not in use, allowing the segmented tabletop surface to roll up into a cylinder. However, open the legs up in their diagonal fashion and they literally prevent the tabletop surface from folding. This results in a rigid upper surface that’s perfect for books, cups, plates, gadgets, or anything else you’d need to put on the Sofan table.

The Sofan is made of toona (or redcedar) wood, found in parts of Asia, predominantly Afghanistan, Papua New Guinea, and North/South Korea. The table is made using a combination of hand-crafting techniques and CNC machining for high accuracy and low tolerances. The individual segments of the tabletop are linked together using steel pipes that run through them, creating a set of hinged points.

While folding furniture has been around for centuries, rolling furniture hasn’t really permeated the zeitgeist. We’ve seen the odd example of a rolling chair before, but just functionally, rolling furniture doesn’t hold any significant advantages over its folding counterparts. That being said, the sheer idea and the execution deserve merit. It’s no wonder that the Sofan table won a Bronze prize at the 2023 A’ Design Award.

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Pure Electric’s Ultra-Compact E-Scooter Packs A 710W Motor And A Stunning 24+ Mile Range

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Folding to a fraction of its size in just 5 steps, the Advance Flex from Pure Electric affirms the dream of last-mile commutes. It’s small enough to fit under your desk or in the boot of your car, weighs a mere 16kg (35 lb), and packs a 710W motor, powerful enough to get you from A to B in a city regardless of the terrain or the weather condition.

The Advance Flex fulfills the lofty position of being a no-compromise electric commute solution. It’s foldable, portable, powerful, comfortable, and lets you easily weave through roads and sidewalks to get you to your destination in time, often even outshining cars and motorcycles, that may hit higher speeds, but succumb to traffic lights and urban gridlock.

Designer: Pure Electric

For Pure Electric, the Advance Flex ushers in a new era for e-scooters with a forward-stance design. Most e-scooters have a slim standing platform that requires you to stand with one foot at the front and another at the back, but the Advance Flex shakes things up with two dedicated footrests that give you a natural stance with your feet side by side, allowing you to feel more confident while riding and be much more in control. Calling this the “Forward Stance”, the company highlights the important role it plays in just being able to easily hop on or off, and to maneuver the scooter without feeling like you’ll fall over. The side-by-side stance keeps your center of gravity right between your feet, helping you maintain equilibrium as you cruise down city roads.

Speaking of cruising down roads, the Advance Flex’s built-in motor offers 710W of peak power, allowing it to hit the certified maximum speed of 15.5 mph or 25 km/h with ease, while even providing enough torque to drive you uphill too. A 36V / 9.5Ah battery gives the scooter a range of up to 24.8 miles, while the Advance Flex offers 3 driving modes to choose from, letting you prioritize speed over range. An integrated headlight and taillight help you navigate your environment in the dark, and indicators built into each footrest also let people know when you’re turning, establishing rider intent and preventing mishaps.

The 5-step folding design is perhaps the Advance Flex’s biggest user-friendly feature, making it ridiculously compact to carry when not in use. The handlebar has a telescopic collapsible design, while a hinge above the front wheel, and another main hinge right down the middle of the bike’s horizontal member allow it to fold further into a compact form small enough to stow underneath a desk or even in the boot of your car. The last two folding elements (the footrests) complete the closing technique, while the Advance Flex’s kickstand allows the scooter to still hold its vertical stance even when folded. In its folded format, the e-scooter measures a mere 24.4 inches in length, 22.4 inches tall, and 11.8 inches wide. Open it out and the resulting full-size e-scooter measures 41 inches long, stands tall at 42.5 inches, and measures 23.6 inches wide.

The two foldable footrests give the Advance Flex its “Forward Stance”

Designed for modern, urban use, the Pure Electric Advance Flex comes with a few nifty features that make riding safe, intuitive, and backed by innovation. The Advance Flex is IP65 dust and water-resistant and comes with tubeless tires and an entirely repairable design. It has 3 speed modes along with a cruise-control setting and Pure Control™ Steering Stabilisation for reliable driving. A smartphone app also lets you access your e-scooter’s added features, checking battery level and even scooter maintenance stats. Aside from being able to pretty much stash your scooter anywhere including the boot of your car, the Pure Electric app also lets you digitally lock your e-scooter with a PIN code, adding an extra layer of security to your ride.

The Pure Advance Flex e-bike is a Platinum Winner of the A’ Design Award for the year 2023.

The post Pure Electric’s Ultra-Compact E-Scooter Packs A 710W Motor And A Stunning 24+ Mile Range first appeared on Yanko Design.

These Playful Magnetic Blocks Are Like LEGO Meets MagSafe Meets Tangram

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It’s easy to split the world around us into individual units. With digital elements, each individual unit is a pixel, and they stack up together to create complex virtual shapes. Translate that to 3D and you get something like LEGO or Minecraft, with square or cube-shaped elements that help act as literal building blocks for the world around you. The key over here is the word ‘cube’, which seems to be pretty foundational whether you’re looking at real life, or virtual life. What if that foundation was changed to something different, like a triangle?

Trido is a collection of magnetic building blocks that draw inspiration from the geometric forms of Platonic solids, specifically the tetrahedron and octahedron. These blocks utilize a clever magnet system that enables every side of each shape to seamlessly connect with one another, aligning perfectly along the edges without any repelling forces. This ingenious design opens up a world of endless construction possibilities, while offering a unique, non-cubical perspective on the world around us, quite similar to Origami.

Designer: Artur Tikhonenko

Artur Tikhonenko, the designer behind Trido, possessed a profound fascination for sculpture, plaster casting, and origami techniques. Initially, his intention was to fabricate magnetic biological forms. However, upon crafting several prototypes, he decided to break past biological and organic shapes and embrace polygons and Platonic solids instead. Through countless trials with various shapes, Artur discovered that only the combination of tetrahedrons and octahedrons, arranged in a precise manner, could seamlessly adhere to one another, leaving no room for gaps.

The Trido blocks rely on a patented magnetic system that offers a reliable connection between shapes without any faces repelling each other. This one-of-a-kind system provides endless possibilities for assembly, making it incredibly enjoyable and effortless to create new designs. The shapes effortlessly align themselves along the edges, while the pieces are crafted from ABS plastic and the magnets are securely concealed within a unique inner “nest”. Introduce new colors to the mix and the possibilities get even more interesting, with the ability to build detailed, beautiful polygonal models that look nothing like something you’d get from a LEGO set.

Trido magnetic blocks offer endless possibilities for creating stunning decorative pieces. Whether it’s a sculpture, a vase, a mask, or any other imaginative creation, these blocks make building a breeze. The shapes are perfectly magnetized, ensuring that no side repels another. With literally billions of build possibilties, the only limit is your imagination.

The Trido Magentic Building Blocks are a winner of the A’ Design Award for the year 2023.

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Is Your Home Missing a Touch of Quirk? Meet the ‘Seat Urchin’ Rocking Chair!

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Inspired by the Sea Urchin, which also happens to be quite the delicacy in Japan (locally known as Uni), this rocking chair breaks all stereotypes. It doesn’t look like your conventional rocking chair from pretty much any angle, but it functions as one rather well. Designed with a multi-pronged base, the chair lets you shift your center of gravity and rock forwards and backwards, or even side to side while you sit on the chair. It even comes with yellow cushions on the inside, reminiscent of the flesh of the urchin!

Designer: Yue Zhuo

Adorably named “SEAt Urchin”, the chair draws inspiration from the graceful curves of the iconic Magis Spun Chair – a rotationally molded top-shaped seat that causes you to spin back and forth through a similar center-of-gravity-shift exercise. “This unique piece of furniture is designed to evoke the fluid motion of ocean waves and the organic form of sea creatures,” says designer Yue Zhuo.

The SEAt Urchin stands out as a one-of-a-kind furniture piece with its remarkable 68-leg design, offering a deceptively smooth rocking motion without any risk of toppling over. Made from maple wood with individually attached wooden dowel legs, the SEAt Urchin Rocking Chair is both practical and visually striking. Its sleek matte black finish exudes elegance, while the vibrant yellow seat cushion adds a touch of color, grabbing your attention and instantly prompting your mind to make the sea urchin association. The seat cushions, meticulously stitched by hand, can be easily attached to the seat using Velcro. This convenient feature enables you to effortlessly alter the color and material of the cushions to match your personal style.

The SEAt Urchin is a Bronze Winner of the A’ Design Award for the year 2023.

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