Press Release
Flip Transformative Chair by Niko Kapa Wins the A' Design Award in Furniture Design
Niko Kapa acknowledged for 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 confirmed the A' Design Award in the Furniture Design category for Flip Transformative Chair by Niko Kapa, designed for Snk. The award was conferred within 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 A' Design Award Explained
The Iron A' Design Award is awarded to good designs that meet the rigorous professional and industrial standards set by the A' Design Awards. This recognition is reserved for works that demonstrate a solid understanding of design principles and show creativity within their execution. Recipients of the Iron A' Design Award are acknowledged for their practical innovations and contributions to their respective fields, providing solutions that improve quality of life and foster positive change. These designs are a testament to the skill and dedication of their creators, showcasing their ability to address real-world challenges through thoughtful design.
Regarding Flip Transformative Chair
Having as a principle the material restraint and purity of form, the design quality is based on geometric folds and lines which result in an interconnection of different parts that all service the function. The design allows the chair to migrate between different settings and respond to moods and needs of the user, since it can be transformed just by flipping it. Nothing is without a purpose and the separate elements collaborate to create a lightweight yet extremely rigid structure.
About Niko Kapa
Niko Kapa is an award winning architect, industrial designer and researcher based in Dubai. With an interest in the pioneering research and investigation, as an architect he maintains an active role throughout the design process, in the interrelated fields of architecture and design. He has a genuine interest in the building and construction industry, with a specific focus on sustainability as well as the cultural importance of architecture. His work is addressing urban planning, architecture and industrial design, with an effort to build links between theory and practice.
Award Record
With this recognition, Niko Kapa is a winner of 8 A' Design Awards. The awards were granted between the 2015 - 2016 and the 2024 - 2025 editions 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. It 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. Typical entries include chairs, tables, sofas, beds, cabinets and shelves. The awarded furniture designs are published at https://designers.org/design-category/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/166217
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/166217
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!166217
- Laureate Profile: https://designers.org/d/152913
- Further Information from the Laureate: https://nikokapa.com/#!/flip-flop
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
- Flip Transformative Chair
- Function
- Transformative Chair
- Category
- Furniture Design
- Discipline
- Industrial Design
- Industry
- Furniture & Home
- Colors
- Gainsboro, Light Gray, Dark Gray, Lavender and Gray
- Images
- 5
- Client
- Snk
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Niko Kapa
- Country
- Greece
- Recognition
- A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2024 - 2025
- Design ID
- #166217
Credits
- Image Credits
- Studio Niko Kapa
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- Flexibility and transformation are the fundamental ideas behind this design. The design allows the chair to migrate between different settings and respond to moods and needs of the user, since it can be transformed just by flipping it. This results to different seating postures and designs as per the needs of the user. Besides the alteration, this gives the product a visual consolidation, emphasizing the reduction of materials and unification of forms.
- Inspiration
- When you bend a strip of plywood you get an elastic curve. What geometry does this curve follow? The interest in line and movement is expressed through a refined vocabulary, derived from the functional aspects of the design. The main structural elements are strips of plywood that fold in a specific and supplementary manner, in line with proportions of the human body so as to establish the dimensions of the chair.
- Research
- The research focused on how the curve segments can be combined together taking into account physically satisfying posture as well as ergonomics. Full scale mockups were produced in order to check the weight and functionality of the furniture prior to fabrication. Cushions were tested in order to act as an extension of the main framing, having as a basic principle the minimum use of material and minimum number of construction elements.
- Challenge
- With the fluidity of seat and the linearity if strips, the design is suggestive of plant growth. In this way it expresses the spirit of the material it is made of and reveals the textural qualities of wood construction. With an intentionally clear and simple form for this furniture, adaptation to the product philosophy of Dorma Design was taken into account, in order to make this chair complementary of company’s group of furniture and suitable for mass production.
- Realization and Technology
- The manufacturing process used for the plywood is steam bending which is a low energy, low waste process using no toxic glues, just water. The process of steaming the wood also seasons it at the same as it is bent, using a fraction of the energy required in conventional kiln drying. Having in mind always the use of low environmental impact solutions, plywood is used with low VOC finishes and Bio Shield natural oil finishes, in order to reveal the textural qualities of wood construction.
- Operation and Interaction
- Exploring the value of wooden manufacture and the flexible nature of wood as a construction material, the Flip Flop chair is constructed of a series of plywood elements. Fluid linear forms establish a visual rhythm through the graphic lines of the design. This analytical construction logic with curves and crisp lines defines a characteristic profile with a light and elegant effect.
- Specifications
- Structural stability is attained by the overlapping plywood strips that curve into one another and are glued on connection points. These provide the necessary flexibility that thin layers of plywood offer as a construction material, together with the cushions attached to them. Plywood sheets are spray painted and varnished on all sides. Besides the natural beech wood finish, they come in black and white colored types.
- Keywords
- Transformable, flexible, fluid, plywood, sustainable
