Press Release
Shanghai Art and Design Academy Receives the Bronze A' Design Award for Concave-Convex Mortise and Tenon Blocks in Toys, Games and Hobby Products Design
Shanghai Art and Design Academy recognized for toys, games and hobby products design by the international grand jury of the 2022 - 2023 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 20, 2023 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has confirmed the Bronze A' Design Award in the Toys, Games and Hobby Products Design category for Concave-Convex Mortise and Tenon Blocks by Shanghai Art and Design Academy. The award was conferred within the 2022 - 2023 A' Design Award & Competition and was determined 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 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.
Regarding Concave-Convex Mortise and Tenon Blocks
Concave-Convex is a set of wooden building blocks for young children. The set contains 211 pieces drawn from the traditional Chinese mortise and tenon structure, simplified into 30 joint types such as the square dovetail and the T-shaped tenon. The tenons are made of dark black walnut and the mortises of light beech, so the two parts can be told apart by color. The blocks are carved by woodworking machine and finished by hand. Three levels of difficulty suit children from 18 months to over six years, from matching single joints to building large scenes.
Award Record
Shanghai Art and Design Academy is a winner of 7 A' Design Awards, including this recognition. The awards span the editions from 2012 - 2013 to 2022 - 2023 of the A' Design Award & Competition.
About the A' Toys, Games and Hobby Products Design Award
The A' Toy Design Award is an international toy design competition recognizing good toy designs by best toy designers, manufacturers and brands worldwide. The competition is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to toy designers, game studios, industrial designers and hobby product manufacturers from all countries. Entries typically include dolls, action figures, board games, puzzles, plush toys and educational toys. Awarded toy designs are published at https://designers.org/design-category/toy
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://designers.org/150812
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/150812
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!150812
- Laureate Profile: https://designers.org/d/121885
- Further Information from the Laureate: https://www.sada.edu.cn/ch/
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
- Concave-Convex Mortise and Tenon Blocks
- Function
- Mortise and Tenon Blocks
- Category
- Toys, Games and Hobby Products Design
- Discipline
- Industrial Design
- Industry
- Kids
- Colors
- Dark Slate Gray, Dark Olive Green, Rosy Brown, Dim Gray and Black
- Images
- 5
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Shanghai Art and Design Academy
- Country
- China
- Recognition
- Bronze A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2022 - 2023
- Design ID
- #150812
Credits
- Image Credits
- Xiaoyang Feng Huan Liu Sha Yang
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- The tenon and mortise building blocks are 211 pieces in total, extracted from the traditional Chinese tenon and mortise structure and simplified into 30 simple tenons and mortises (such as square dovetail, T-shaped tenon, etc.) suitable for young children to play. The tenon and mortise are made of dark black walnut wood and light beech wood, respectively. In the process of finding partners for each tenon, children can learn the wisdom of the ancients.
- Inspiration
- The project takes Luban lock as the design source, and obtains new inspiration from the mortise and tenon structure of Chinese traditional culture. Luban lock is difficult to remove and build for the children under the age of 6 .Therefore, this project attempts to design by simplifying the mortise and tenon structure, combining mortise and tenon with building blocks. The goal is to encourage children over 1 year old to complete the free assembly of simple mortise and tenon.
- Research
- Mortise and tenon, it is a main structural method of traditional Chinese architecture, furniture and other instruments. It is a connection method combining concave-convex parts on the two components. The protruding part is called tenon (or tenon); The recessed part is called mortise (or mortise, mortise). The utility model is characterized in that the nail is not used on the object, and the mortise and tenon are used to reinforce the object.
- Challenge
- This toy has high requirements for the accuracy of mortise and tenon joint clearance. The joint between mortise and tenon cannot be too loose or too tight. The manual polishing process requires more costs.
- Realization and Technology
- Woodworking machine carving and manual detail processing
- Operation and Interaction
- This set of building blocks simplifies the complicated details of traditional mortise and tenon in the design scheme, and simplifies 30 kinds of mortise and tenon structures as the main building source. The design has three levels of difficulty: basic version, advanced and high-level version. 1）The basic version is aimed at children over 18-month-old, finding the corresponding mortise and tenon for each color, understanding the mortise and tenon structure, and exercising the ability to solve problems;2）Based on the cognition of the mortise and tenon structure, the advanced version is suitable for children over 3 years old to play.
- Project Duration and Location
- Start in September 2022 and end in March 2023，Shanghai
- Specifications
- Package size: 220mm*195mm*280mm, Material: Beech, Black Walnut
- Keywords
- Traditional culture, mortise and tenon structure, educational toys, preschool children
