Press Release
Yuto Yamada Receives the Silver A' Design Award for Toma Living Sofa in Furniture Design
The international grand jury of the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition recognizes Yuto Yamada for furniture design
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 28, 2026 /DesignNewswire/ Toma Living Sofa by Yuto Yamada has been granted the Silver A' Design Award in the Furniture Design category, A' Design Award & Competition has announced. The result belongs to the 2025 - 2026 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.
What the Silver A' Design Award Means
The Silver A' Design Award celebrates top-tier designs that embody excellence and innovation. This award acknowledges creations that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also highly functional, reflecting the designer's deep understanding and skill. Silver A' Design Award recipients are recognized for their contribution to raising industry standards and advancing the practice of design. Their work often incorporates original innovations and elicits a strong emotional response, making a notable impact on the improvement of everyday life.
About Toma Living Sofa
Toma is a sofa designed for living spaces. The form of Toma comes from the idea of wrapping a single piece of fabric around the whole seat, in the manner of crepe cloth. The result is a continuous surface with soft undulations that envelops the person seated. Stretch fabric was used to achieve the complex curved surface, which was difficult to produce. Toma measures 1580 mm in width, 950 mm in depth and 850 mm in height. The design explores a freer form for a common piece of furniture.
Award Record
Yuto Yamada 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. 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/177390
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/177390
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!177390
- Laureate Profile: https://designers.org/d/373616
- Further Information from the Laureate: https://yutoyamada.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
- Toma Living Sofa
- Function
- Living Sofa
- Category
- Furniture Design
- Discipline
- Industrial Design
- Industry
- Furniture & Home
- Colors
- Silver, Dark Gray, Light Slate Gray, Gainsboro and Gray
- Images
- 5
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Yuto Yamada
- Recognition
- Silver A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2025 - 2026
- Design ID
- #177390
Credits
- Image Credits
- Photographer / Takumi Ota
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- This sofa was born from the act of wrapping it in a single piece. It has become a unique sofaa with undulations.This project began with the question: could we express the commonplace piece of furniture that is the sofa in a freer form? The idea expanded from the thought that wrapping it in a single piece of fabric, like crepe, might yield an interesting shape, leading us to arrive at this form.
- Inspiration
- This project began with the question: could we express the commonplace piece of furniture that is the sofa in a freer form? The idea expanded from the thought that wrapping it in a single piece of fabric, like crepe, might yield an interesting shape, leading us to arrive at this form.
- Challenge
- Expressing the form of the cubic surface and realising it while utilising the engineers' skills proved extremely challenging. Through repeated discussions, we continued to seek the correct solution until completion was achieved.
- Realization and Technology
- Creating the shape of the tertiary surface proved extremely challenging. It was achieved by employing stretch fabric.
- Operation and Interaction
- This unique sofa, which adorns the space, envelops those who sit upon it. It promises an experience unlike any other.
- Project Duration and Location
- The project started in Apr. 2020 in Tokyo and finished in Jan. 2021 in Tokyo, and was exhibited in Salone del Mobile in June 2022.
- Specifications
- Width 1580 x Depth 950 x Height 850mm
