Press Release
Swing Ao Stool by Takusei Kajitani Receives the Silver A' Design Award in Furniture Design
Takusei Kajitani recognized for furniture design by the international grand jury of the 2021 - 2022 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 22, 2022 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has confirmed the Silver A' Design Award in the Furniture Design category for Swing Ao Stool by Takusei Kajitani, designed for Consentable. The award was conferred within the 2021 - 2022 A' Design Award & Competition and was determined through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who evaluated anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
The Silver A' Design Award Explained
The Silver A' Design Award celebrates top-tier designs that embody excellence and innovation. This award acknowledges creations that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also highly functional, reflecting the designer's deep understanding and skill. Silver A' Design Award recipients are recognized for their contribution to raising industry standards and advancing the practice of design. Their work often incorporates original innovations and elicits a strong emotional response, making a notable impact on the improvement of everyday life.
Regarding Swing Ao Stool
Most conventional chairs are designed based on the idea that sitting is a static state, even though the human body is designed to move. Swing Ao has a tension structure that allows the seat to move freely in conjunction with the movement of the sitter's pelvis. This promotes a feeling of floating and the movement of the pelvis, spine, and surrounding muscles, activating the body's functions just like playing on a small swing. Additionally, it can be used as a stationary stool with an 8-degree angled seat surface to maintain a healthy posture with an elongated spine.
About Takusei Kajitani
Born on 28 April 1966 in Kyoto City and spent childhood time in Kurashiki City of Okayama Prefecture. Studied urban design at Kyoto University,wrote a treatise on urban image formation. Particularly influenced by "The City of the Images", Kevin A. Lynch and "Notes on the Synthesis of Form", Christopher Alexander at that time. Began working for the design consulting department of the interior design and construction company in Tokyo for 5 years. Changed jobs to the advertising company Hakuhodo in 1995, and worked for the spatial design department that plans, designs, and produces various corporate branding facilities.
Award Record
Takusei Kajitani is a winner of 2 A' Design Awards, including this recognition. The awards were granted between the 2020 - 2021 and the 2021 - 2022 editions of the A' Design Award & Competition.
About the A' Furniture Design Award
The A' Furniture Design Award is an international furniture competition recognizing good furniture designs by best furniture designers worldwide. It is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to furniture designers, product designers, industrial design studios and furniture brands from all countries. Typical entries include chairs, tables, sofas, beds, cabinets and shelves. The awarded furniture designs are published at https://dezigners.org/design-category/furniture
About A' Design Award & Competition
Organized annually since 2008, A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The philanthropic mission of the A' Design Award is to advance society through good design, by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Nominations are peer reviewed and evaluated anonymously by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. Eligible laureates receive the A' Design Prize, which includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, uploading a work and receiving a preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. More information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://dezigners.org/135261
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/135261
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!135261
- Laureate Profile: https://dezigners.org/d/297629
- Further Information from the Laureate: http://www.consentable.com
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
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Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- Swing Ao Stool
- Function
- Stool
- Category
- Furniture Design
- Discipline
- Industrial Design
- Industry
- Furniture & Home
- Colors
- Linen, Light Gray, Black, Rosy Brown and Silver
- Images
- 5
- Client
- Consentable
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Takusei Kajitani
- Country
- Japan
- Recognition
- Silver A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2021 - 2022
- Design ID
- #135261
Credits
- Team
- Yoh Miyachi and Ryosuke Tanaka
- Image Credits
- 5: Photographer Yoko Inoue, Variations, 2022.
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- Swing is designed with a tension structure that allows the seat to move freely in conjunction with the movement of the sitter's pelvis. As a result, you can enjoy a floating sensation, and it promotes the movement of the pelvis, spine, and surrounding muscles, thereby activating your body's functions like playing on a small swing. And you can also sit on it as a regular stool with an 8-degree angle seat to maintain a healthy posture that prevents hunching over.
- Inspiration
- The most chair have been designed on the idea that sitting is a static movement despite the human body is designed to move. It forces our body to stay rigid for a long time, accelerating our body's dis-activation. Swing is designed for solving this problem with a tension structure that allows the seat to move freely in conjunction with the movement of the sitter's pelvis like a small swing. You can enjoy a floating sensation with activating your body's functions with this stool.
- Research
- I referred to The Alexander Technique For Musicians by Peter Buckoke for information on how to use the human body. In particular, I focused on the importance of the sense of balance that we unconsciously have. For the design of the suspension structure, I took a hint from Tensegrity by Buckminster Fuller.
- Challenge
- First of all, I wondered if it would be possible to develop a chair that would benefit athletes and stimulate their athletic sense. And I began to study body manipulation and body structure, then became interested in the changes in body structure during the process of human evolution, or the functional significance of the missing tail. At that time, I realized that the sense of balance in the body is very important for athletes. And the image of Swing was coming to me.
- Realization and Technology
- Swing consists of an upper seat structure, a lower leg structure, and a suspension material that connects both of them. A plurality of suspension materials connected to the leg structure suspend a rod extending downward from the seat structure. The rod of the seat structure passes through a hole arranged in the center of the top panel of the leg structure. The diameter of the hole in the leg structure is larger than the diameter of the rod in the seat structure, and the user can move the seat freely within the difference in diameters.
- Operation and Interaction
- This is a stool that can be used in two sitting modes: dynamic and static.When sitting dynamically, you sit in such a way that the rod extending under the seat touches the hole for penetration in the base parts as little as possible, and move your pelvis, hip joints, and spine to enjoy the swing of the seat. Enjoy dynamic sitting when you want to sit back or change your mind.When sitting statically, sit leaning forward so that the rod extending under the seat touches the hole. You can sit in a straight posture because the seat is fixed at an angle of about 8 degrees.
- Project Duration and Location
- Swing project started as The Chair for Athlete project in Tokyo in April 2021, and the initial model of Swing was completed in November 2021.
- Specifications
- Diameter 300mm x Height 450mm, made of solid black cherry wood with indigo-dyed finish collaborated with Ao team in Tokyo. The suspension material is 3mm rope for dinghy. The seat is upholstered with artificial leather over 60mm thick urethane cushion.
- Keywords
- Athlete, Health, Body balance, Stool, Chair, Swing, Dynamic, Tensegrity, Tension
