Press Release
Bronze A' Design Award in Furniture Design Goes to Crisscross Folding Chair by Cameron Smith
The international grand jury of the 2022 - 2023 A' Design Award & Competition recognizes Cameron Smith for furniture design
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 20, 2023 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has confirmed the Bronze A' Design Award in the Furniture Design category for Crisscross Folding Chair by Cameron Smith. The recognition forms part of the 2022 - 2023 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 scored anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
What the Bronze A' Design Award Means
The Bronze A' Design Award is given to outstanding designs that showcase a high degree of creativity and practicality. It recognizes the dedication and skill of designers who produce work that stands out for its thoughtful development and innovative use of materials and technology. These designs are acknowledged for their professional execution and potential to influence industry standards positively. Winning this award highlights the designer's ability to blend form and function effectively, offering solutions that enhance people's lives and wellbeing.
More About Crisscross Folding Chair
Crisscross is a folding chair designed for everyday use. Most folding chairs are lightweight and made for temporary use, and they give up quality and comfort. Crisscross offers flexible seating without sacrificing quality. The chair folds so it can be stored or moved to another room. A geared mechanism concealed within the back leg creates a synchronized motion between the seat and the legs. No linkages are visible, so the form stays simple. When folded, the whole chair nests within the front legs. The frame is made of bent sheet steel with steam bent wood inlays.
About Cameron Smith
Cameron Smith has a passion for design and approaches everything he does as a design challenge. With design training from Stanford University’s renowned design program, he’s built a successful design career founding and running a product development consulting firm. With 30 years of design experience, he has been honored with international awards for furniture, lighting and product designs. His background in mechanical engineering and industrial design helped shape his design philosophy which centers around exploring design and the interaction between people and the products they use in both technical and emotional ways.
Award Record
Cameron Smith is a winner of 4 A' Design Awards, including this recognition. The awards span the editions from 2021 - 2022 to 2022 - 2023 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. The competition 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. Entries typically include chairs, tables, sofas, beds, cabinets and shelves. Awarded furniture designs are published at https://dezigners.org/design-category/furniture
About A' Design Award & Competition
A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade organized annually since 2008. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The A' Design Award has a philanthropic mission 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. Entries are peer reviewed and anonymously evaluated 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. The A' Design Prize granted to eligible laureates 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, the upload of a work and the 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. Further information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://dezigners.org/147478
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/147478
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!147478
- Laureate Profile: https://dezigners.org/d/322924
- Further Information from the Laureate: https://www.furnituresmith.com/collection/crisscross
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
- Crisscross Folding Chair
- Function
- Folding Chair
- Category
- Furniture Design
- Discipline
- Industrial Design
- Industry
- Furniture & Home
- Colors
- Gainsboro, Saddle Brown, Silver, Dark Gray and Dim Gray
- Images
- 5
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Cameron Smith
- Country
- United States of America
- Recognition
- Bronze A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2022 - 2023
- Design ID
- #147478
Credits
- Image Credits
- Photography: Meagan West
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- Most folding chairs are designed to be lightweight and portable for temporary use and give up quality, comfort and appeal. The Crisscross chair provides flexible seating without sacrificing quality. Designed as an everyday use chair, the Crisscross chair folds so it can be stored or easily relocated to another room. A geared mechanism concealed within the back leg creates a synchronized motion with the seat and legs. When folded, the entire chair nests within the front legs making it easy to relocate to another room or store for another time.
- Inspiration
- People are living in smaller, more flexible spaces and deserve a chair that flexes with them. Many dining tables expand and contract to accommodate different size settings, yet most dining chairs aren’t easily stored when not in use. This forces people to use mix matched chairs for larger settings or find a place to store extra chairs with smaller groups. Folding chairs, although easy to store, aren't designed for everyday use and lack the quality and design people desire for a formal sitting.
- Research
- The concept of a folding chair designed to be an every day chair is a new category. Most folding chairs are for temporary use and are lightweight and easy to move. The Crisscross changes the paradigm of folding chairs to create a substantial every day chair that has the ability to fold and be moved from one area to another. Research was done on existing folding chairs and a variety of dining chairs to analyze whether people would accept an every day use chair with added mechanics for folding. Rather than ask people if they wanted a folding dining chair, a questionnaire asked more about a person's lifestyle and if they had a dining table that expanded for larger capacity.
- Challenge
- Because the Crisscross chair was to be used as an everyday chair, the folding mechanism needed to be concealed and the design needed to stand apart from the operation of the chair. Most folding chairs have visible folding mechanisms which lead someone to believe the chair is for temporary use. The Crisscross geared mechanism is completely concealed inside the back leg and there are no visible linkages to distract from the simple form. The simple design appears to be a static design when opened. When closed the entire chair nests inside the front legs.
- Realization and Technology
- The Crisscross chair frame is fabricated from bent sheet steel and machined steel parts welded and finished. Wood inlays are steam bent and fit to the exterior sides of the front and back legs. Pads on the seat and backrest are finished in Alcantara ultra suede and adhered to the frame.
- Operation and Interaction
- Operation of the folding mechanism is simple. Depressing the buttons under the armrest allows the armrests to be lowered to the leg. Once the armrests are lowered the chair can be tilted on the front legs and the seat folded into the front legs. The back legs are geared with the seat so the chair folds in a synchronous motion.
- Project Duration and Location
- The chair was initially conceived and designed in March 2020. Engineering began in fall of 2021 and the first chairs were released May 2022 at ICFF in New York.
- Specifications
- Dimensions - Open 23” x 23.75” x 34.5” 585mm x 600mm x 875mm Dimensions - Folded 23” x 8” x 41.5” 585mm x 200mm x 1,055mm
- Keywords
- folding chair, chair, dining chair
