Press Release
Elsewhere Tableware by Yuhua Li Wins the Bronze A' Design Award in Bakeware, Tableware, Drinkware and Cookware Design
Yuhua Li honored for bakeware, tableware, drinkware and cookware design by the international grand jury of the 2023 - 2024 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 14, 2024 /DesignNewswire/ Elsewhere Tableware by Yuhua Li, designed for Ke Tong, has been granted the Bronze A' Design Award in the Bakeware, Tableware, Drinkware and Cookware Design category, A' Design Award & Competition has announced. The award was conferred within the 2023 - 2024 A' Design Award & Competition and was reached 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 Bronze A' Design Award Explained
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 Elsewhere Tableware
Elsewhere is a porcelain tableware set that combines tea and floral art. The set includes a vase, a teapot, a tea container, a cup and a cup plate. Each piece is made of bone china by slip casting and passes through four firings. A non-glossy white glaze gives the surfaces an ivory texture. Indented forms with small cut-outs reveal an inner layer, creating a contrast between the solid and the void. The shapes follow classic Chinese porcelain, while the cut-outs break their symmetry to suggest a space within a space.
Award Record
With this recognition, Yuhua Li is a winner of 1 A' Design Award.
About the A' Bakeware, Tableware, Drinkware and Cookware Design Award
The A' Kitchenware Design Award is an international design competition recognizing good kitchenware designs by best kitchenware brands and designers worldwide. The competition is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to kitchenware designers, product designers, industrial design studios and kitchenware brands from all countries. Entries typically include pots, pans, cutlery, plates, bowls and glasses. Awarded kitchenware designs are published at https://dezigners.org/design-category/kitchenware
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/157088
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/157088
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!157088
- Laureate Profile: https://dezigners.org/d/351696
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
- Elsewhere Tableware
- Function
- Tableware
- Category
- Bakeware, Tableware, Drinkware and Cookware Design
- Discipline
- Industrial Design
- Industry
- Furniture & Home and Food & Hospitality
- Colors
- Lavender, Gainsboro, Silver, Snow and Dark Gray
- Images
- 5
- Client
- Ke Tong
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Yuhua Li
- Country
- China
- Recognition
- Bronze A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2023 - 2024
- Design ID
- #157088
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- Elsewhere is a porcelain tableware set that blends tea and floral art. It draws from the Chinese aesthetics and philosophy, but also subverts them with a daring design. The pieces have a white finish and an indented design with small cut-outs showing an inner layer. The cut-outs contrast the solid and the void, the perfect and the imperfect, the real and the imaginary. They lure the user to discover the hidden beauty and meaning of the objects, and to flee from the dull reality to a different world. Elsewhere is not just a functional and elegant tableware set, but also a poetic and symbolic expression of the human condition.
- Inspiration
- Elsewhere is a fable, a space within a space, a solid nothingness, a reality that is cut off. It is a faithful reproduction of classic Chinese porcelain shapes, embodying the Confucian aesthetics of dignity, fullness, steadiness, and calmness. But Elsewhere also breaks perfection - a part of perfection is cut off, revealing the content of the entity, which is: a person looking away from this world, towards a hard pot or the emptiness in it. The cut-off part is the soul out of the body.
- Research
- Elsewhere is a design research to create a porcelain tableware set that combines tea and floral art, drawing from and subverting the Chinese aesthetics and philosophy. I used a mixed-methods approach with 40 participants from different cultural backgrounds. The results showed that my design was appreciated by both groups, as it enhanced their tea and floral art experience, and created a sense of ritual and elegance. It offers a new way of enjoying tea and floral art.
- Challenge
- The hardest part of this design were 1. To create a design that matched the Chinese traditional aesthetics and philosophy, but also challenged them. 2. To do in-depth user research to understand the needs, preferences, and experiences of tea and floral art lovers from different cultural backgrounds. 3. To use materials and techniques that suited my design concept and theme. 4. To balance functionality and aesthetics, as well as tradition and innovation.
- Realization and Technology
- This design is made of bone china using the slip casting technique. It went through four firings: the first one was a high-temperature sintering, the second one was a medium-temperature glazing, the third one was a low-temperature decalcomania, and the fourth one was a low-temperature silver plating. Unlike ordinary bone china glazes, the design chooses to use a non-glossy white glaze with the intention of displaying a kind of ivory texture, and an indented design with small cut-outs revealing an inner layer. The cut-outs contrast the solid and the void, the perfect and the imperfect, the real and the imaginary.
- Operation and Interaction
- This object is a set of porcelain tableware that can be operated by pouring hot water into the teapot and the vase, and adding tea leaves and flowers. The object transforms by creating a visual and aromatic contrast between the tea and the floral art, and by revealing the inner layer of the pieces through the small cut-outs. The interaction happens by inviting the user to appreciate the beauty and meaning of the objects, and to enjoy the tea and the floral art. The key frames are the moments when the user pours the water, adds the tea leaves and the flowers, and sees the inner layer of the pieces.
- Project Duration and Location
- The project started in May 2015 in Nanjing and finished in March 2016 in Nanjing.
- Specifications
- vase:150 mm x 150 mm x 250 mm; teapot: 170mm x 120 mm x 130 mm; tea container: 110 mm x 100 mm x 110 mm; cup: 120 mm x 70 mm x 60 mm; cup plate: 130 mm x 130 mm x 15 mm.
- Keywords
- Chinese Tea Ceremony, Ikebana, Bone china, Aesthetics in life, Ceramic design
