Press Release
Whale Tail Sitting Bench by Enrique Minguez Receives the Silver A' Design Award in Garden and Outdoor Furniture Design
The international grand jury of the 2020 - 2021 A' Design Award & Competition recognizes Enrique Minguez for garden and outdoor furniture design
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 23, 2021 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has confirmed the Silver A' Design Award in the Garden and Outdoor Furniture Design category for Whale Tail Sitting Bench by Enrique Minguez, designed for QZ Urban Furniture. The result belongs to the 2020 - 2021 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 scored anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
The Silver A' Design Award Explained
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 Whale Tail Sitting Bench
This piece of urban furniture is a versatile element for both indoors and outdoors. The shape of the seat and its support makes the bench resemble the tail of a whale without compromising its ergonomics and stability. A thin layer of fibreglass covers its inner core of wood or concrete enriched with recycled plastic. It can be placed alone or in small groups.
About Enrique Minguez
Enrique Minguez Ros is an Industrial Design Engineer from the Polytechnic University of Valencia (Spain), with a BA (Hons) in IT Sligo (Ireland) and a research of his Master thesis at Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden). He is currently working on his PhD thesis on new materials and parametric design in the field of furniture design at the Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia (Spain). His designs have received recognition from different institutions, such as: A+Awards from Architizer, finalist in SBID Product Design Awards, silver in the International Design Awards (IDA) and was officially selected in the London International Creative Competition.
Award Record
This recognition makes Enrique Minguez a winner of 1 A' Design Award.
About the A' Garden and Outdoor Furniture Design Award
The A' Outdoor Furniture Design Award is an international furniture design competition recognizing good outdoor furniture by designers and brands worldwide. The competition is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to outdoor furniture designers, product designers, industrial design studios and outdoor furniture brands from all countries. Entries typically include deck chairs, garden benches, picnic tables, patio sets, outdoor daybeds and hammocks. Awarded outdoor furniture designs are published at https://designers.org/design-category/outdoor-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/118288
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/118288
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!118288
- Laureate Profile: https://designers.org/d/259959
- Further Information from the Laureate: https://qzurbanfurniture.com/
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
###
Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- Whale Tail Sitting Bench
- Function
- Sitting Bench
- Category
- Garden and Outdoor Furniture Design
- Discipline
- Industrial Design
- Industry
- Furniture & Home
- Colors
- Dark Slate Gray, Silver, Dim Gray, Dark Gray and Black
- Images
- 5
- Client
- QZ Urban Furniture
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Enrique Minguez
- Country
- Spain
- Recognition
- Silver A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2020 - 2021
- Design ID
- #118288
Credits
- Team
- Enrique Mínguez
- Image Credits
- Photographer David Frutos, Whale Tail Bench, 2020.; Photographer Mario González, Whale Tail Bench, 2020.; Photographer Enrique Mínguez, Whale Tail Bench, 2020.
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- This single support design, allows for elegance and sobriety in both urban and natural environments. It can be placed either by itself or in small groups, enabling the seating space to resemble the vision of a single whale or of a whole pod swimming in harmony. It allows for different options in use of materials. It can be made of fiberglass reinforced either with wood or concrete. Yet, in its most environmentally efficient version, it can also be made of fiberglass reinforced with concrete and recycled plastic. All of these combinations enable the seat to follow a clean and ergonomic shape. Depending on the materials chosen it can resist up to 310kg.
- Inspiration
- This piece of furniture takes its inspiration from the ocean and one of the most iconic images it offers us: the whale tails.
- Research
- The type of research used was data collection by observation, as the main objective was to create a piece based on marine life. Design Thinking Methodology was then used to ensure that ergonomics was present, but always framed by the connection to the sea. Bearing that in mind, whales, dolphins, seahorses, waves and other remarkable marine items were studied to abstract their basic shapes. The aim was to establish a relationship between those shapes and the forms produced by the human body, in search of a practical figure. After some failed initial creations, the focus turned to capturing the aerodynamic and organic essence of the marine environment.
- Challenge
- Once the molds were made, the main problem was maintaining the beauty in all the surface of the element. The solution to the problem was found adapting the manufacturing process to the different materials. It needed to be done in two parts that had to be joined later, working on the partition line. In the case of fiberglass reinforced with concrete and recycled plastic, the problem resided in the breathability of the concrete. To avoid it penetrating the fiber, the element was painted after finishing the piece.
- Realization and Technology
- It can be made from three different processes: A. Fiberglass reinforced with wood. Fiberglass painted thick between 8 and 12 mm. Interior reinforced with high density compact laminated wood frame. B. Fiberglass with reinforced concrete and recycled plastic. Fiberglass painted thick between 4 and 8 mm. Interior reinforced with polymer concrete and recycled HPDE. C. Reinforced concrete. Concrete finish, reinforced with fibers of very high performance and great plasticity, which gives it great resistance.
- Operation and Interaction
- Sitting bench. This piece not only fulfils the function of a seat, it also provides an aesthetic value when it is placed in the urban space: seafronts, ports, parks, squares, streets and boulevards. When t it is not occupied, its soft undulating shapes make it a sculptural element.
- Project Duration and Location
- The project started in September 2019 and finished in March 2020 in Cartagena (Spain), and it was exhibited in the port of Cartagena in June 2020. Currently it has been proposed for a large-area shopping center.
- Specifications
- The maximum measures are 80cm width, 54cm depth and 51cm height. The width varies in a smooth transition from the tail (seat) of 80 cm to the neck of the tail (base) of just 16 cm.
- Keywords
- WhaleTailBench, WhaleTail, Bench, SeaBench, PortBench, Seafront
