Arctic Coffee table by Wai Ho Cheung is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2017 Bronze A' Design Award in Furniture Design Competition Category.
BronzeFurniture· 2017
Arctic Coffee table
Client: Wai Ho Cheung
Bronze A' Design Award Winner in Furniture Category
Verified Award Winner
Verify Award Status for #50628The Design
About Arctic Coffee table
The Arctic is a coffee table with dynamic waves at the bottom which generate a visual illusion that the still table appears as moving. In Chinese Five Elements, black corresponds to Water element hence the table is painted in black as well as emphasising the visual illusion of the waves. In the designer’s concept, aesthetics equals to functionality. Thus, the strips are responsible to functionality with the supporting frames whilst the waves can be also used practically: the top corners can be used as CD stands and the waves can be used as magazine stands.
The Recognition
About the Bronze A' Design Award
Arctic Coffee table is a Bronze A' Design Award winner, a highly prestigious recognition granted to outstanding designs distinguished by creativity, ingenuity, and astuteness. Bronze winners are amply skillful and strikingly creative artifacts that authenticate the vast experience, imagination, and resourcefulness of their designers. Arctic Coffee table is expected to be a highly regarded, admired, and cherished object that is notably professional and innovative. This Bronze A' Design Award-winning design incorporates best practices in art, science, design, and technology, and is excellent for its attention to detail. Arctic Coffee table splendidly satisfies needs, touches desires, charms feelings, and appeals to curiosity.
Interviews
Design Interview
What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?
The form is inspired by tidal wave. In the meantime, the functionality is inspired by park bench slats.
What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?
The main focus was to improve the first version I did and turn it into more commercial. Therefore, my aim was to design a unique coffee table with material and production process as cheap as possible.
What are your future plans for this award winning design?
I will try to sell the design to a furniture company.
Grand Interview
Your innovative approach to the Arctic Coffee table's wave-inspired base creates a mesmerizing visual illusion of movement - could you elaborate on how this dynamic element evolved from your initial concept to final execution?
The wave-inspired base of the Arctic begins with the vision of capturing the fluidity and motion of tidal waves. This idea translates into mathematical sinusoidal waves to ensure precision in the design. Through iterative prototyping, the dynamic element evolves, refining the curves and interwoven structure to create a sense of movement while maintaining stability and functionality.
The Arctic Coffee table masterfully integrates Chinese Five Elements philosophy through its black color symbolizing water - how did this cultural foundation influence your material choices and overall design decisions?
The philosophy of the Chinese Five Elements plays a crucial role in the Arctic's design. The Water element, symbolized by the color black, guides the selection of materials and the visual aesthetics. The choice of painted metal strips not only provides the desired fluidity and wave-like appearance but also adheres to the cultural significance, creating a cohesive and meaningful design.
Your transformation of the Arctic Coffee table's functional strips into both structural support and aesthetic waves demonstrates remarkable ingenuity - what inspired this dual-purpose approach to furniture design?
The inspiration for the dual-purpose design comes from the need to harmonize aesthetics with functionality. Observing the structure of park bench slats, I realize that incorporating gaps and interwoven strips can enhance both the visual and practical aspects of the coffee table. This approach allows the metal strips to serve as both a striking visual element and a useful storage solution, embodying the principle that contemporary design should be both beautiful and functional.
Behind the Design
Press Kit
Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.
- Unique Properties
- Arctic is made of painted metal strips with dynamic waves at the base which make the still table appears as moving. The strips and supporting frames are interwoven useful space, as well as the waves underneath can be functional. In this coffee table, aesthetics also means functionality, which is what contemporary design should fulfil in my opinion.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Width1200mm x Depth600mm x Height420mm
- Tags
- furniture, coffee table, waves, metal, strips
- Production Technology
- Arctic is a coffee table made of looped metal strips with a wave bent at the bottom of each and fixed by supporting frames. Each strip is placed inversely to others alongside that interweave dynamic waves, like currents in ocean. In Chinese Five Elements, the corresponding colour to Water element is black. Therefore, the table is painted in black which can also emphasise the visual illusion of the moving currents.
- Design Challenge
- As the combination with those factors is always thought to be the product only appears in utopia, Arctic is created in order to challenge the mission. Incidentally, Arctic is the second version of this project. The first version was designed with 3 types of materials, so the hardest point of this project was to reduce the material types used, at the same time to keep the dynamic outlook and to emphasise it.
- Research
- In nowadays market, customers always demand products to fulfil the combination on 3 aspects: high functionality, low cost and high aesthetics. On the other hand, companies are always asking for products with: high profit, high market share and economy production process.
- Inspiration
- The form is inspired by tidal wave hence the inspiration is conducted to mathematical sinusoidal wave with the keyword, wave. In the meantime, the functionality is inspired by park bench slats; the structure of the slats with gaps in between is considered to be highly functional. In Chinese Five Elements, the corresponding direction to Water element is north. Thus, it is named as the largest ocean in the north, Arctic.
- Project Duration
- The project started in April 2016 in Hong Kong and finished in April 2016 in Hong Kong.
- Operation Flow
- The metal strips are responsible to in term of both aesthetics and functionality. On the top corners, the strips can be used as CD stands with the supporting frames. Moreover, the waves underneath can be used as a magazine stand. For extra, users can hang a little basket on the supporting frames beside. The dynamic waves at the bottom appear as currents in the ocean, which make the still table seems to be moving hence make the living room vigorous.
- Team Members
- Wai Ho Cheung
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