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Press Release

DesignNewswire · COMO, Italy ·

Hyunjae Noh Is Honored with the Bronze A' Design Award for Mushroom Side Table in Furniture Design

Hyunjae Noh acknowledged for furniture design by the international grand jury of the 2024 - 2025 A' Design Award & Competition

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

COMO, Italy, April 18, 2025 /DesignNewswire/ Mushroom Side Table by Hyunjae Noh has been granted the Bronze A' Design Award in the Furniture Design category, A' Design Award & Competition has announced. The award was conferred within the 2024 - 2025 A' Design Award & Competition and was decided through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who evaluated 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 Mushroom Side Table

The Mushroom project is an eco-friendly initiative that repurposes wood scraps from furniture manufacturing into a uniquely designed small side table. Instead of discarding the scraps, they are carefully shaped into wide panels and arranged to form a three dimensional end grain pattern. The tabletop showcases an eye catching cross sectional design using three different types of wood, while the smoothly curved legs resemble a mushroom stem. With a height of 380mm, Mushroom functions as a coffee table or bedside table, giving new value to discarded wood while minimizing waste.

About Hyunjae Noh

Hyunjae Noh is an industrial designer who has a strong passion for product, furniture, and UX design. With a focus on ideation, 3D modeling, and rendering, he has developed a deep understanding of how design can be used to solve complex problems and make people's lives more enjoyable and convenient. Hyunjae believes that design has the power to transform the way people interact with the world around them, and he is committed to creating solutions that enhance the user experience. Hyunjae's problem-solving approach is a key part of his design philosophy.

Award Record

This recognition makes Hyunjae Noh a winner of 1 A' Design Award.

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

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
Mushroom Side Table
Function
Side Table
Category
Furniture Design
Discipline
Industrial Design
Industry
Furniture & Home
Colors
White Smoke, Dim Gray, Peru, Maroon and Sienna
Images
5

The Recognition

Laureate
Hyunjae Noh
Country
Canada
Recognition
Bronze A' Design Award
Edition
2024 - 2025
Design ID
#166794

Design Details

Unique Properties
During the furniture crafting process, a substantial amount of wood scraps is generated, often appearing in irregular shapes and small sizes, eventually being discarded. Mushroom is a small coffee table crafted by utilizing these wood scraps, presenting a unique mushroom shaped design. The tabletop is created by recycling three different types of wood scraps, forming an intriguing end-grain pattern.
Inspiration
While taking a furniture-making course at OCAD University, I learned that the production process often generates a significant amount of wood scraps, most of which end up being discarded. These wood pieces were of high quality but were overlooked due to their small size. At OCAD University, these scraps were collected in one place for students to use freely. Seeing this, I was inspired to gather various wood pieces to make furniture.
Research
The Mushroom project is an initiative to recycle wood scraps generated during furniture manufacturing, rather than discarding them. The scraps are carefully shaped to create wide panels, and then arranged to form a three dimensional end grain pattern. Through this project, discarded wood scraps are given new value, and the amount of waste wood is minimized, making it an environmentally friendly solution.
Challenge
To create the end grain pattern, the small wood scraps had to be shaped into consistent forms. While the wood pieces were too small to safely use a table saw, I was able to make a template using a laser cutter. By combining the template with the wood scraps, I was able to shape all the pieces into the same form.
Realization and Technology
To efficiently utilize wood scraps, the end grain technique was used to create wooden panels. This approach not only allowed the creation of larger panels from smaller pieces but also showcased the unique patterns characteristic of end grain wood. The panel was then shaped into a circular tabletop and finished with oil to ensure durability and longevity. The table legs were crafted by laminating multiple layers of wood together and refining only the edges using a lathe, minimizing waste. This method significantly reduced the amount of discarded material during furniture production.
Operation and Interaction
Mushroom is a small table with a height of 380mm. It can be used as a coffee table or a bedside table and is characterized by its use of discarded wood to create a beautiful patterned wood panel, which is then used in its construction.
Project Duration and Location
This project was initiated in November 2022 and completed in December 2022 at OCAD University in Toronto.
Specifications
380mm x 380mm x 400mm
Keywords
wood, craft, coffee, table, eco friendly, sustainable

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