Berliner Multifunctional Pouf by Tugce Sonmez Evin is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2023 Silver A' Design Award in Furniture Design Competition Category.
SilverFurniture· 2023
Berliner Multifunctional Pouf
Client: Kitbox Design
Silver A' Design Award Winner in Furniture Category
Verified Award Winner
Verify Award Status for #144606The Design
About Berliner Multifunctional Pouf
Berliner is a round seating unit with enhanced functionality for waiting lounges, offices and houses. The design provides additional storage space for magazines, books etc. in a practical and appealing way. Nestlike wooden core of the pouf stores objects securely and visibly to the user. Berliner is upholstered with faux fur for a soft velvety touch and to emphasize comfort. It is named after the famous German pastry, Berliner (A.k.a. Kraupfen), because of its resemblance.
The Recognition
About the Silver A' Design Award
Berliner Multifunctional Pouf is a Silver A' Design Award winner, an extraordinarily prestigious recognition granted to top-of-the-line, gorgeous, and impressive designs. Silver winners are tremendously brilliant and exceedingly creative works that illustrate the outstanding expertise, talent, and acuity of their designers. Berliner Multifunctional Pouf is expected to be a wonderful, showpiece work that is remarkably professional and profoundly innovative. This Silver A' Design Award-winning design is a highly notable, admired invention that benefits and advances the boundaries of art, science, design, and technology. Berliner Multifunctional Pouf is a vastly envied creation that evokes desires, introduces positive feelings, and sparks amazement and wonderment.
Where to Get It
Custom Furniture and Product Design
We craft innovative furniture and home accessories that blend traditional materials with modern design. Our award-winning studio specializes in handcrafted pieces using wood, brass, and premium upholstery, creating functional elegance for contemporary spaces.
Commission DesignInterviews
Design Interview
What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?
The inspiration behind Berliner was to create a piece of furniture that gives back some of the space it holds. For this purpose, I designed Berliner with a smart storage space in its body.
What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?
The first objective was to design a comfortable seating unit as it's the main function of a pouf. The second objective was to create extra joy with its cotton-like look and playful yet distinguished solution for storage in open spaces.
What are your future plans for this award winning design?
I am hoping to have Berliner produced by a well-established furniture brand. I think the minimalist design of Berliner is timeless and could be an object of desire with the right approach.
Behind the Design
Press Kit
Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.
- Unique Properties
- Berliner is a large round pouf with a solid wood container unit in the middle. It's designed to store and display magazines, books etc. in a practical and appealing way. The idea was to make a seating furniture with enhanced functionality for waiting lounges, offices and houses. Wooden core is hand carved on a turning lathe, and upholstered with a faux fur for a soft velvety touch. The design is completed with two brass rings emphasizing the separation between different materials.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Dimentions: 850mm x 850mm x 470mm
Materials:
Wooden core/nest: Ayous
Frame: MDF
Metal Rings: Brass with satine finish
Upholstery: Synthetic Fur - Tags
- pouf, ottoman, magazine rack, storage unit, seating, berliner
- Production Technology
- The production process of Berliner has started with 3D printing of scaled versions of various initial forms to better evaluate the proportions. After the proportions are set, the actual production has started. The wooden core and pouf frame is hand-carved on a turning lathe from laminated wood blocks, the seating foam is hand-sculpted and upholstered. The brass rings are bent by hand and welded to fit tight. All production is a close collective work of 3 ateliers working with different materials. While the initial production is finished by hand, the design is suitable to be produced by CNC machines.
- Design Challenge
- The main challenge was to achive a reasonable weight while making a sturdy furniture with a wooden core. For that reason; the inner frame of the pouf is made out of laminated blocks by leaving the middle hollow and the core is made of ayous tree for its lightweight and ease of application. The design is seperated into two halves as top and bottom for secure and easy transportation. The top part is locked by a cental rod placed onto the bottom by simply rotating the upper half of the pouf.
- Research
- As the main function of the pouf is to be seated, ergonomics was a great concern while developing the design. Softness of the seating unit, curve radius of the edges, height and achieving an evenly weight distribution while being seated were the main objectives of the research process. As a result, two upholstered halves of Berliner is narrowing to the top and bottom, to help the person sitting on it to be placed closer to the center of gravity and not let his/her feet to touch the bottom.
- Inspiration
- In today's housing or workplace understanding, space is a thing which we all want to save. Instead of filling each void with another object, we all seek smart solutions to save some unaccompanied space for a feeling of comfort. Berliner is designed for this purpose; while taking the space that a round seating unit would fill, it serves as a space for other objects as well. It's named after the famous German pastry because of its obvious resemblance.
- Project Duration
- The project started in February 2022 and finished in May 2022, and was exhibited in SaloneSatellite exhibition of Salone del Mobile in June 2022
- Operation Flow
- The design interacts with the user by serving an unexpected additional function. The pouf collects occasionally used items and displays them for the user to easily see and reach. In a scenario where the Berliner is placed in a waiting lounge; one can easily reach the magazines while sitting on the pouf and enjoy reading for the duration of his/her wait. Curved nestlike form of the wooden container of Berliner provides good visibility for the objects stored while securely keeping them in place. This feature makes the design a practical asset as a waiting lounge seating furniture.
- Patents
- Registered to Tugce Sonmez Evin, 2022
- Image Credits
- Image #1: Photographer Mehmet Arslan
Image #2: Photographer Mehmet Arslan
Image #3: Photographer Mehmet Arslan
Image #4: Photographer Tugce Sonmez Evin
Image #5: Photographer Max Artbovich
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