Press Release
ZKW Studio Receives the Bronze A' Design Award for Weaving Wood Cabinet in Furniture Design
The international grand jury of the 2024 - 2025 A' Design Award & Competition recognizes ZKW Studio for furniture design
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 19, 2025 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has confirmed the Bronze A' Design Award in the Furniture Design category for Weaving Wood Cabinet by ZKW Studio. 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.
About the Bronze A' Design Award
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.
About Weaving Wood Cabinet
Weaving Wood Cabinet is a trapezoidal walnut cabinet featuring three side panels constructed from a woven walnut veneer textile. The weaving density varies across the surface, producing a subtle gradient in texture. This manual process, not achievable through mechanical means, combines the structural rigidity of wood with the pliability of textile. When exposed to sunlight, the surface casts layered shadows, and the alignment of the wood grain contributes to a consistent visual rhythm.
About ZKW Studio
Kewei Zhao is a furniture and product designer based in the United States. She holds a degree in Industrial Design from the China Academy of Art and a Master’s degree in Furniture Design from the Rhode Island School of Design. In 2024, she founded Studio ZKW, an independent practice focused on developing furniture and objects through material exploration and spatial research. Her work draws from abstract natural references and emphasizes the poetic relationship between nature atmosphere and contemporary living environments.
Award Record
ZKW Studio is a winner of 1 A' Design Award, including this recognition.
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. The competition 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. Entries typically include chairs, tables, sofas, beds, cabinets and shelves. Awarded furniture designs are published at https://designers.org/design-category/furniture
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/172721
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/172721
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!172721
- Laureate Profile: https://designers.org/d/361212
- Further Information from the Laureate: https://www.keweizhao.com/case/weavingveneer-texture
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
- Weaving Wood Cabinet
- Function
- Cabinet
- Category
- Furniture Design
- Discipline
- Industrial Design
- Industry
- Furniture & Home
- Colors
- Sienna, White Smoke, Dark Olive Green, Dark Slate Gray and Peru
- Images
- 5
The Recognition
- Laureate
- ZKW Studio
- Country
- United States of America
- Recognition
- Bronze A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2024 - 2025
- Design ID
- #172721
Credits
- Team
- Huining Liu
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- This piece of furniture employs a unique weaving technique that integrates walnut veneer into textile, transforming the originally fabric into a unique screen. When exposed to sunlight, the woven surface casts delicate and beautiful shadows. Weaving veneer into textile is a unique technique that machines are not capable of doing. Each wooden board undergoes a meticulous selection based on its grain and color, building a consistent sense of nature beauty.
- Inspiration
- Inspired by the balanced spirit of nature, this cabinet reinterprets a classic trapezoidal form with three side panels composed of walnut veneer textile. The veneer is woven more densely near the frame, creating a visual and tactile gradient , not only in the viewing but also in the tactile experience. By blending rigid walnut with flexible textile, the piece explores harmony through material, offering a unique sensory experience that invites closer interaction and touch.
- Research
- The project is rooted in a deep investigation of materials and making techniques, centering on a textile innovation that integrates thin walnut veneer into a woven structure using a loom. The process involved extensive experimentation, beginning with a series of prototypes that tested veneer thicknesses, thread weights, and weaving patterns. A key challenge was preserving the tension necessary for weaving while accommodating the rigidity of wood—an issue resolved through careful calibration of spacing, tension, and structural support.
- Challenge
- The project posed creative and technical challenges, particularly in adapting thick wood veneer for weaving. Wood veneer lacks the tension typically required by a loom and thread fabric, making it necessary to carefully calculate the spacing between each column to maintain a good structure. Beyond the textile, the frame designed to hold the textile became another big technical challenge. Though the grooves are invisible from the outside, there are 28 hidden channels that secure the woven surface in place.
- Realization and Technology
- This cabinet is entirely handcrafted from walnut, including the textile panels on both sides, which are woven from a combination of cotton thread and walnut veneer. The technique of integrating wood veneer into textile weaving is a process that cannot be replicated by machines. Due to the hardness and thickness of the walnut veneer, the tension of the weave must be carefully and continuously adjusted—tight enough to securely hold the veneer strips in place, yet flexible enough to maintain structural integrity without causing displacement.
- Operation and Interaction
- The cabinet features a slender profile suited for storing small objects, making it well-suited to living spaces and compact interiors. Its low height allows it to sit neatly beside a television, serving as a functional storage piece. Designed to be freestanding, the cabinet reveals its tactile quality when illuminated. Sunlight filtering through the woven textile creates a soft interplay of light and shadow. The pale-toned fabric responds gently to natural light, introducing a sense of airy and a renewed lightness to the surrounding space.
- Project Duration and Location
- The project started in October 2023 and finished in March 2024 in United States, and was exhibited in ICFF WANTED in May 2024.
- Specifications
- W * D * H : 508 * 304 * 1118 mm
- Keywords
- Cabinet, Veneer Textile, Furniture, Material Innovation, Indoor Furniture
