Accordion Modularna sofa by Yuqi Wang is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2025 Zlatna nagrada A' Design Award in Dizajn Namještaja Competition Category.

ZlatoNamještaj· 2025

Accordion Modularna sofa

by Yuqi Wang

Client: Jason Furniture (Hangzhou) Co.,Ltd.

Zlatna nagrada A' Design Award Winner in Namještaj Category

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Verified Award Winner

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View at A' Design Award Press Release Award Badge

Colors

The Design

About Accordion Modularna sofa

Accordion je modularna sofa izgrađena od jednog osnovnog modula. Osnovni modul mijenja veličinu i oblik kompresijom, slično mijehu harmonike. Iz jednog modula moguće je stvoriti mnoge konfiguracije sofe koje odgovaraju različitim prostorima. Tijelo je izrađeno od visokoelastične kompresibilne pjene, a drvene bočne ploče spojene su čvrstim užadima i podesivim gumbima. Okretanjem gumba užad se zateže i sofa se sabija. Sofa se također može komprimirati za pakiranje u ravnom obliku (flat pack), što smanjuje troškove pakiranja, skladištenja i transporta.

The Recognition

About the Zlatna nagrada A' Design Award

Accordion Modularna sofa je pobjednik Zlatne nagrade A' Design Award, iznimno prestižnog priznanja koje se dodjeljuje prvorazrednim, čudesnim i izvanrednim dizajnima. Zlatni pobjednici iznimno su inovativne, vrlo vizionarske i blistavo zasljepljujuće kreacije koje odražavaju genij, mudrost i umijeće svojih dizajnera. Očekuje se da Accordion Modularna sofa bude vrlo hvaljen, trendovski i monumentalan izum koji pruža dosad neviđenu vrijednost. Ovaj dizajn koji je osvojio Zlatnu nagradu A' Design Award spektakularan je, cijenjen projekt koji izuzetno koristi i pomiče granice umjetnosti, znanosti, dizajna i tehnologije. Accordion Modularna sofa stvara snažne osjećaje želje, budi strast, potiče kreativnost i fascinira nas.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties: This is a modular sofa. What sets it apart from most modular sofas is that it uses a single base module capable of changing size and shape to create endless sofa configurations. Additionally, it can be compressed for flat-pack packaging, making it easy to carry while also reducing packaging, storage, and transportation costs.
Dimensions & Packaging: The sofa dimensions are W890*D1150*H700mm.Since the main body of the sofa is made of high-resilience compressible foam, it is volume can be significantly reduced through mechanical compression during packaging. The flat dimensions of the sofa are W230*D1150*H700mm. It’s only 2/5 of the sofa.This reduction lowers the costs associated with packaging, warehousing, and logistics. It also can be easily placed in a shopping cart or carried on the back.
Tags: Modular sofa, Transformable sofa, Flat-packing, Portable sofa, Playful sofa, Tool-free assembly, Sofa for all spaces, Sofa for all spaces
Production Technology: The sofa is made of high-resilience compressible foam, and the wooden side panels on both sides are connected by durable climbing ropes and adjustable knobs. By rotating the knobs we can pull the internal ropes tight, the side panels can compress the sofa and achieve shape changes and size changes.
Design Challenge: The most challenging part of this project was designing a simple mechanism to adjust the sofa's shape. There are almost no sofas on the market that can change their form through compression, leaving us with no existing examples to reference. As a result, we researched compression structures across various fields and ultimately found inspiration for the sofa's compression mechanism in industrial machinery. We then created a simple prototype to verify its feasibility.
Research: Our research is aimed at the furniture market, and we hope to get an innovative sofa product through our project. We Collected information through our e-commerce department, including user’s evaluation, Logistics distribution evaluation and other multi-angle information. We have identified several issues with many current sofa products, such as excessive specifications, difficulty in selection, large size, transportation challenges, and the inability to adapt to various spatial layouts. To address these market problems, we designed this sofa.
Inspiration: The design of the accordion sofa is inspired by the dynamic changes of the bellows during an accordion performance. This gave me an idea: if a sofa's base module could be compressed to change its shape, just like an accordion bellows, then this transformable module could be combined into endless sofa configurations. This would minimize the number of sofa specifications needed.
Project Duration: The project started in December 2024 in Hangzhou and it is scheduled to be completed by July 2025,and available for sale in October 2025.
Operation Flow: The three knobs on the side of the sofa are located at the top of the backrest, the bottom of the backrest, and the front of the seat cushion. Rotating the different knobs tightens the durable outdoor ropes inside the sofa at those positions, pulling the side wooden panels closer together. As the panels compress the sofa, different shapes are achieved. The knob design features clear and intuitive patterns, making it very easy to operate. Two sofas can be connected using the knobs and the wooden holes on the opposite side, much like Lego bricks.