Press Release
Syn Universal Calendar by Jia Sheng Chen Receives the Silver A' Design Award in Homeware Design
The international grand jury of the 2024 - 2025 A' Design Award & Competition recognizes Jia Sheng Chen for homeware design
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 18, 2025 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has confirmed the Silver A' Design Award in the Homeware Design category for Syn Universal Calendar by Jia Sheng Chen, designed for Forenext Design. The recognition forms part of the 2024 - 2025 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 scored 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.
More About Syn Universal Calendar
Syn is an innovative calendar/ monthly planner featuring a unique layout for various and universal time intervals. It is designed as a mechanical, three dimensional planner that assists people in organizing tasks and events without using a digital application. Inspired by the philosophy of Lo Tek Design, it optimizes the use of a physical calendar, providing more detailed information. The structure design adapted the pattern of time, making it universal to any month and day. It can assist in tracking and recording events over a comfortable length of time.
About Jia Sheng Chen
Johnny Jiasheng Chen is a Los Angeles-based designer/artist. He is recognized for his innovative and cross-disciplinary practices in design and art. He is passionate about seeking new experiences and unique alternatives, exploring new perspectives on materials, cultures, humanity, and speculative futures, and is the founder of the Forenext Design Studio.
Award Record
This recognition makes Jia Sheng Chen a winner of 1 A' Design Award.
About the A' Decorative Items and Homeware Design Award
The A' Homeware Design Award is an international homeware design competition recognizing good homeware designs by leading brands and designers worldwide. The competition is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to homeware designers, product designers, industrial design studios and ceramic artists from all countries. Entries typically include tableware, lighting fixtures, cookware, decorative accessories, bathroom accessories and furniture. Awarded homeware designs are published at https://dezigners.org/design-category/homeware
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/162626
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/162626
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!162626
- Laureate Profile: https://dezigners.org/d/356778
- Further Information from the Laureate: https://www.forenextdesign.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
- Syn Universal Calendar
- Function
- Universal Calendar
- Category
- Homeware Design
- Discipline
- Industrial Design
- Industry
- Furniture & Home and Packaging & Retail
- Colors
- Light Gray, Silver, Lavender, Black and Dark Slate Gray
- Images
- 5
- Client
- Forenext Design
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Jia Sheng Chen
- Country
- United States of America
- Recognition
- Silver A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2024 - 2025
- Design ID
- #162626
Credits
- Team
- Forenext Design Team
- Image Credits
- All content created by Forenext Design Studio
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- Syn is an innovative calendar/ monthly planner featuring a unique layout for various and universal time intervals. It is designed as a mechanical, three-dimensional planner that assists people in organizing tasks and events without using a digital application.
- Inspiration
- Inspired by the philosophy of Lo-Tek design, the project draws ideas from traditional knowledge. Syn transitions traditional innovation and modern usage, creating new form factors for the object. It is designed to adapt to modern calendar usage. Its time units are placed carefully to provide a unique experience. Furthermore, it reflects humans' reliance on digital products and explores the notion of non-electric structures to achieve the goal.
- Research
- Reflecting humans' reliance on digital products, the project explores the notion of non-electric structures to create an object with a unique experience. By researching the philosophy of Lo-Tek design and exploring traditional knowledge, Syn calendar transitions traditional innovation and modern usage, creating new form factors for an innovative calendar.
- Challenge
- Preserving the unique form and interaction with humans are two challenging goals. Besides, due to the pattern of the day and month, normal calendars are challenged to be flexible enough to adapt to all date changes. However, Syn’s innovative structure design overcomes this problem, making it able to apply to any month and date.
- Realization and Technology
- Laser-cut Acrylic/glass pointers with printed/engraving numbers, Aluminum Cnc frame with engraving features, rubber gaskets for pointers, metal rod core post, and plastic pointer keys.
- Operation and Interaction
- Syn calender is a clock-like three-dimensional calendar. People can adjust the time by switching the pointers. Each pointer shows printed numbers as dates. The engraved mark on the aluminum frame presents the general hours of the day, and the pin placement and multiple-color design represent and help people identify different events.
- Project Duration and Location
- The project started in January 2024 and finished in June 2024 in Los Angeles and was showcased on the internet.
- Specifications
- Width 300 mm x Depth 130 mm x Height 418 mm
- Keywords
- Calendar, Planner, Information, Universal, Time, Interaction, Innovative, Traditional Knowledge, Transitional
