Press Release
Flowerblock Shelf by Mizuki Chinen Receives the Silver A' Design Award in Furniture Design
Mizuki Chinen recognized for furniture design by the international grand jury of the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 25, 2026 /DesignNewswire/ Flowerblock Shelf by Mizuki Chinen, designed for Chinen Mizuki, has been granted the Silver A' Design Award in the Furniture Design category, A' Design Award & Competition has announced. The award was conferred within the 2025 - 2026 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 assessed anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
About the Silver A' Design Award
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 Flowerblock Shelf
Flowerblock is a shelf designed to serve as both storage furniture and a room divider. The design is inspired by flower blocks, concrete units with geometric openwork patterns used in Okinawan architecture, which filter strong sunlight while letting air pass. Gaps between the boxes give the shelf a light and open appearance. Stainless steel rods connect the boxes for stability, solid white ash supports the load-bearing points, and plywood reduces the overall weight. The shelf has no back panel, so it can be placed against a wall or in the centre of a room.
About Mizuki Chinen
Mizuki Chinen is a young designer based in Okinawa, Japan. She creates products, mainly furniture, inspired by Japanese traditions and the nature of her hometown, Okinawa. She mainly works on woodworking, but also incorporates a variety of materials such as metal and fabric. She strives to create products that are not only beautiful but also highly practical, bringing joy to the daily lives of those who use them.
Award Record
Mizuki Chinen is a winner of 2 A' Design Awards, including this recognition. The awards were granted between the 2024 - 2025 and the 2025 - 2026 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/180361
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/180361
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!180361
- Laureate Profile: https://designers.org/d/353254
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
- Flowerblock Shelf
- Function
- Shelf
- Category
- Furniture Design
- Discipline
- Industrial Design
- Industry
- Furniture & Home
- Colors
- Tan, White Smoke, Light Gray, Antique White and Sienna
- Images
- 5
- Client
- Chinen Mizuki
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Mizuki Chinen
- Country
- Japan
- Recognition
- Silver A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2025 - 2026
- Design ID
- #180361
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- This shelf deliberately leaves space between boxes, creating an overall cool and light impression. Light and air pass through the gaps, reducing visual pressure and creating a pleasant sense of openness in the space. Its open, airy presence, reminiscent of Okinawa's climate, evokes a refreshing feel even in hot seasons, bringing a gentle rhythm to the room it occupies. It is a design that considers not only functionality but also visual coolness.
- Inspiration
- This shelf was designed inspired by Flower Blocks widely used in the architecture of my hometown, Okinawa. Flower Blocks are concrete blocks featuring geometric openwork patterns. They possess the characteristic of blocking strong sunlight while allowing pleasant breezes to pass through, combining practicality and decorative appeal. I focused on this functional beauty and incorporated a structure conscious of pathways for light and wind into the shelf's design.
- Research
- We conducted a durability test to verify how much weight the two stainless steel rods can withstand.
- Challenge
- To make the structure viable, we went through numerous trials and errors. Ensuring sufficient strength and stability proved particularly challenging. However, increasing strength inevitably added weight, so we also struggled to balance robustness with lightness.
- Realization and Technology
- Stainless steel rods connect the boxes, ensuring durability and stability. The surfaces where these rods are inserted utilize solid white ash wood for its superior strength, providing robust support to load-bearing areas. Meanwhile, plywood is used for other sections to achieve overall weight reduction.
- Operation and Interaction
- This shelving unit is intentionally designed without a back panel, allowing it to serve not only as storage furniture but also as a partition that gently divides a room. By not completely blocking sightlines or light, it maintains an open feel while enabling zoning according to purpose. Another key feature is its flexibility in placement it can be installed not only against walls but also in the center of a room or near windows. It adapts flexibly to changes in lifestyle and spatial usage.
- Project Duration and Location
- The project commenced in Okinawa in April 2025.
- Specifications
- 2000mm x 400mm x 1020mm
- Keywords
- Shelf, Design, Furniture, Furniture design,
