Press Release
Bronze A' Design Award in Furniture Design Goes to Soli Chair by João Demele
The international grand jury of the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition recognizes João Demele for furniture design
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 25, 2026 /DesignNewswire/ Soli Chair by João Demele, designed for Morada Decor, has been granted the Bronze A' Design Award in the Furniture Design category, A' Design Award & Competition has announced. The result belongs to the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition and was decided 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.
About the Bronze A' Design Award
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.
About Soli Chair
Soli is a chair designed for everyday seating. The design balances ergonomics, visual lightness and structural precision. The solid wood structure is made from responsibly sourced reforested Jequitiba wood, with smooth and continuous transitions between legs, seat and backrest. The curved backrest is upholstered in leather and guides posture without any adjustment mechanism. Anatomical curves and high performance foam provide comfort. Industrial machining ensures precision, while controlled manual finishing preserves material integrity and durability.
About João Demele
We are passionate about Furniture, passionate about handling materials in the manufacture of furniture, especially wood. The objective of our product is to create an emotional connection with customers, inspiring them to transform their environments with authentic and timeless pieces, which at the same time highlight the comfort and functionality that the furniture provides. Brazil. With an innovative and creative vision, the company goes beyond current trends, seeking to create exclusive furniture that transforms spaces into true works of art.
Award Record
This recognition makes João Demele a winner of 3 A' Design Awards. The awards span the editions from 2023 - 2024 to 2025 - 2026 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/176791
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/176791
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!176791
- Laureate Profile: https://dezigners.org/d/348189
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
- Soli Chair
- Function
- Chair
- Category
- Furniture Design
- Discipline
- Industrial Design
- Industry
- Furniture & Home
- Colors
- Gainsboro, Black, Light Slate Gray, Silver and Dark Gray
- Images
- 5
- Client
- Morada Decor
The Recognition
- Laureate
- João Demele
- Country
- Brazil
- Recognition
- Bronze A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2025 - 2026
- Design ID
- #176791
Credits
- Team
- João Demele – Designer, Juliano Schmidt and Rafael Schmidt – Project approval and Juliano Schmidt and Luiz Eduardo Bossardi – Execution and prototyping
- Image Credits
- Images developed by designer João Demele.
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- The chair explores the balance between ergonomics visual lightness and structural precision resulting in a contemporary piece with sculptural presence. Its solid wood structure features smooth and continuous transitions between legs seat and backrest highlighting craftsmanship and technical mastery. The curved leather upholstered backrest gently supports the body while precise stitching and hand finishing reinforce material integrity and the uniqueness of each piece.
- Inspiration
- The Soli chair inspire by a synthesis of form, identity, and materiality. Its design is structured as a continuous gesture, in which seat and backrest are unified through a single curve. Each curvature is carefully dimensioned to accommodate diverse body types, reflecting the plurality of Brazilian culture. Inspired by traditional wooden furniture and natural elements such as branches and animal horns, the combination of wood and leather emphasizes material honesty, lightness, stability, and tactile comfort, enhancing the users sensorial experience.
- Research
- This design project was developed through research into sustainable materials applied to contemporary furniture, combined with an understanding of function as an adaptive element responsive to different bodies and contexts. The design process integrated hand sketching, 3D modeling, and full-scale prototyping to refine form, structure, and ergonomics, particularly the backrest curvature. The combination of wood and leather references Brazilian modern furniture, positioning craftsmanship as the conceptual core of the object.
- Challenge
- The main challenge was balancing ergonomics and form. Developing a continuous curved backrest capable of adapting to different bodies required extensive research, testing, and fine adjustments. Manufacturing the wooden structure demanded high technical precision to achieve organic forms and smooth transitions without compromising structural strength. Integrating wood and leather also required careful detailing to ensure durability, comfort, and consistent aesthetic quality in potential scaled production.
- Realization and Technology
- The chair production is guided by sustainability and industrial efficiency. It uses responsibly sourced reforested Jequitiba wood and components designed to reduce waste throughout manufacturing. The seat incorporates curves that adapt to human anatomy combined with high performance foam for comfort and support. Industrial machining ensures precision and repeatability while controlled manual finishing preserves material integrity and durability.
- Operation and Interaction
- The chair works as a single, continuous gesture. The seat supports the body, while the curved backrest approaches like an embrace, intuitively guiding posture. There are no adjustments or mechanisms: comfort comes directly from the form itself, which naturally adapts to different body types. The wooden structure sustains this movement with lightness and stability, transforming the act of sitting into a natural, welcoming, and efficient everyday experience.
- Project Duration and Location
- The Soli chair was developed through close collaboration between designer and manufacturer with the objective of creating a chair that intuitively adapts to the human body. Completed in 2025 the project followed a rigorous development process with multiple prototypes ergonomic adjustments and formal refinements. The result is a contemporary chair that balances comfort aesthetic identity and production feasibility reflecting research collaboration and care in its creation.
- Specifications
- Width: 560 mm x Depth: 600 mm x Height: 840 mm. Height Seat: 460 mm.
- Keywords
- Wooden chair, Sustainable design, Ergonomic chair, Contemporary furniture, Organic curves, Eco-friendly materials, Brazilian Furniture, Brazilian Culture.
