Press Release
Bronze A' Design Award in Office Furniture Design Goes to Fs418 Desk by Felix Schwake
Felix Schwake recognized for office furniture design by the international grand jury of the 2024 - 2025 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 19, 2025 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has announced that Fs418 Desk by Felix Schwake, designed for Confidential Individual Project, has been granted the Bronze A' Design Award in the Office Furniture Design category. The result belongs to 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 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.
More About Fs418 Desk
FS418 is a desk designed for private office use. The monolithic form recalls a solid block of marble. The desk is made from 2 cm Carrara marble slabs with a honed surface, assembled by hand, and the interior is made of solid ash wood finished in black lacquer. Storage for writing tools and documents is concealed inside the body, together with power, HDMI and network sockets. The tabletop can be pulled towards the user to reveal the storage and the sockets. Cables stay hidden, so the surface remains clean and free of clutter.
About Felix Schwake
Life as a process is ideal. However, the image of one's own life melts into an immeasurable variety of currents of foreign influences, blending into a color that can no longer be differentiated. In the thick paste of our everyday life, only the screaming nuances of flashy, pushy currents manage to gain visibility for a short time. One's own life is an intimate confidant, yet it remains completely strange. Felix Schwake's works follow his philosophy: "Architecture has to be the background for life." They offer the opportunity to experience one's own life as an essence. Against a (white) background, one becomes familiar with one's own self and gets to know one's needs.
Award Record
This recognition makes Felix Schwake a winner of 1 A' Design Award.
About the A' Office Furniture Design Award
The A' Office Furniture Design Award is an international furniture design competition recognizing good office furniture by best designers and brands worldwide. It is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to office furniture designers, industrial design studios, office furniture brands and office furniture manufacturers from all countries. Typical entries include desks, chairs, file cabinets, conference tables, cubicles and workstations. The awarded office furniture designs are published at https://designers.org/design-category/office-furniture
About A' Design Award & Competition
Organized annually since 2008, A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The philanthropic mission of the A' Design Award is 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. Nominations are peer reviewed and evaluated anonymously 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. Eligible laureates receive the A' Design Prize, which 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, uploading a work and receiving a 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. More information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://designers.org/161978
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/161978
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!161978
- Laureate Profile: https://designers.org/d/271699
- Further Information from the Laureate: https://felixschwake.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
- Fs418 Desk
- Function
- Desk
- Category
- Office Furniture Design
- Discipline
- Industrial Design
- Industry
- Furniture & Home and Business
- Colors
- Black, Dark Slate Gray, Light Slate Gray, Gray and Dim Gray
- Images
- 5
- Client
- Confidential Individual Project
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Felix Schwake
- Country
- Germany
- Recognition
- Bronze A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2024 - 2025
- Design ID
- #161978
Credits
- Image Credits
- Photographer / Creator (Designer) Felix Schwake, Forest Walk Desk, 2024.; Photographer / Creator (Designer) Felix Schwake, Forest Walk Desk, 2024. Video Credits: Creator (Designer) Felix Schwake, Forest Walk Desk, 2024. All rights are reserved by Felix Schwake.
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- This desk boasts a monolithic, minimalist design akin to a solid marble block. It uniquely conceals storage space for writing tools and paperwork, as well as sockets for charging electronic devices like mobile phones or laptops within its body. The retractable writing surface keeps essentials accessible yet hidden, ensuring a tidy, clutter-free workspace. This design maintains the desk's pure, clean aesthetic, free from visible cables and everyday office mess, even during regular use.
- Inspiration
- My vision was to depict the user's life, highlighting the everyday work process and making it conscious. I aimed to focus on the actual goal of working. Typically, electronic devices with their cables, along with pens and papers, ... demand visual attention and cause distractions. I aimed to create a space where one can dive into creativity without interruption, yet without compromising the functionality of a workspace. Everything should be readily available but discreet. Undisturbed working.
- Research
- The research for this project was qualitative, aiming to find a marble pattern that fits the "Forest Walk" theme. The objective was to identify a marbling that mimics the look through forest branches. Methodology included extensive visual analysis and material sampling. Data collection involved visiting multiple quarries in Carrara, with the primary tools being visual inspection and photography. Participants included the client and the artist. Results showed that the selected marble met aesthetic and functional criteria, satisfying both stakeholders. Insights revealed the importance of material authenticity in enhancing thematic design.
- Challenge
- The hardest part was maintaining the vision of a forest walk experience through various spatial impressions abstract and non-specific enough to leave room for imagination. This allows viewers and users to anticipate these natural spaces genuinely. The focus was on exploring the concept of "space" itself. Balancing the abstract representation while ensuring functional design required overcoming creative and technical obstacles, such as material limitations and production capabilities.
- Realization and Technology
- The table is crafted from marble selected personally from a quarry in Carrara. It features a lightweight construction using 2cm marble slabs with a honed surface, all assembled by hand. The interior is made of hand-selected solid ash wood, finished with black lacquer. The table includes technical features such as HDMI, RJ45, and two power sockets. The design is custom-made in terms of size, features, and materials to suit the specific project requirements.
- Operation and Interaction
- The table functions like a regular desk. While seated, the user can pull the tabletop towards themselves to reveal the storage space and the built-in sockets. This allows for easy charging of devices like laptops or iPhones. The tabletop can then be fully closed, with only the necessary amount of cable visible thanks to the integrated cable management system. Excess cables remain hidden inside the table. Additionally, containers lined with fine aniline leather can be removed from the table. These include document trays, pen holders, and storage compartments for office supplies such as staplers, paper clips, and hole punches.
- Project Duration and Location
- The search for the perfect marble for this project was the most time-consuming part. The goal was to find a marbling pattern that, fitting the theme, resembled a view through the branches of a forest canopy. The extensive search paid off, and both the client and the artist were very satisfied with the final result, "Forest Walk." The total duration, including planning and consultation, was one year.
- Specifications
- The table dimensions are 2400 mm in width, 1000 mm in depth, and 750 mm in height. The table has a triangular shape, providing spacious interior storage. The outer edges of the table measure 20 mm, while the thickest part is 280 mm.
- Keywords
- Forest Walk, abstract design, marble desk, custom furniture, interior design, functional art, Carrara marble, handcrafted furniture, executive desk, luxury office furniture
