Press Release
Una Corda Piano Acoustic Piano by Davids Klavins Receives the Silver A' Design Award in Musical Instruments Design
Davids Klavins recognized for musical instruments design by the international grand jury of the 2020 - 2021 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 23, 2021 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has confirmed the Silver A' Design Award in the Musical Instruments Design category for Una Corda Piano Acoustic Piano by Davids Klavins, designed for Nils Frahm. 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 assessed 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.
More About Una Corda Piano Acoustic Piano
Una Corda is an acoustic piano built without a furniture case. The open design allows the sound to travel freely to the listener. The instrument has one string per note, a stainless steel frame and a double-layer soundboard. The stainless steel frame keeps the piano light, unlike the cast iron frames used in traditional pianos. The resulting tone is soft and clear. Una Corda is played like a traditional piano, and the visible mechanical parts show how each note is produced. The piano is hand-crafted and no chemicals are used.
About Davids Klavins
Klavins Piano stands for new, non-traditional design of acoustic pianos. The aim of the company and its founder David Klavins is to inspire pianists, composers, and listeners alike by musical instruments that offer new types of sound and design, strictly applying the principle of "form follows function". Besides having created the light-weight Una Corda Piano, Klavins Piano is the only company world wide to build Vertical Concert Grand pianos of 4,5 meters height, meant to be integrated in building structures, offering a variety of different visual design options, suitable for concert spaces as well as private homes.
Award Record
With this recognition, Davids Klavins is a winner of 1 A' Design Award.
About the A' Musical Instruments Design Award
The A' Musical Instrument Design Award is an international design competition recognizing good musical instruments by leading designers and brands worldwide. It is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to musical instrument designers, industrial designers, music instrument producers and acoustic engineers from all countries. Typical entries include guitars, pianos, violins, drums, saxophones and flutes. The awarded musical instrument designs are published at https://designers.org/design-category/musical-instrument
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/122682
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/122682
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!122682
- Laureate Profile: https://designers.org/d/303420
- Further Information from the Laureate: http://www.klavins-pianos.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
- Una Corda Piano Acoustic Piano
- Function
- Acoustic Piano
- Category
- Musical Instruments Design
- Discipline
- Industrial Design
- Industry
- Arts and Entertainment
- Colors
- Sienna, Rosy Brown, Dark Slate Gray, Dark Gray and Dim Gray
- Images
- 5
- Client
- Nils Frahm
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Davids Klavins
- Country
- Latvia
- Recognition
- Silver A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2020 - 2021
- Design ID
- #122682
Credits
- Image Credits
- David Klavins Video Credits: Native Instruments, Berlin
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- The Una Corda piano represents an open design, without a furniture "box", which serves for its sound to freely travel. It has only one string per tone, a stainless steel frame, and a double-layer soundboard, these features setting it aside from any traditional acoustic piano.
- Inspiration
- Frequently clients were asking for a softer sounding piano, compared to the traditional acoustic pianos. In the course of researching piano acoustics, I decided to strip the piano from any and all unnecessary features, invent a new, softer soundboard, and to build a piano by the strict principle of "form follows function" - the one-string-per-note Una Corda piano.
- Research
- Materials and design research, the objective being to design a piano that reflects the 21st century feel. Investigating existing piano designs by Internet search and based on years of experience with traditional piano design, as well as meticulous analysis of all factors pertinent to piano sound. Building a first prototype, evaluating its weaknesses and applying needed improvements. The final result constitutes a disruptive, strictly functional piano design, aiming to appeal to a public open for innovation on a field of generally rather conservative attitudes.
- Challenge
- A major challenge was to define the most suitable material for the main frame of the Una Corda. All traditional pianos utilize a cast-iron frame, which was prohibitive for the Una Corda, for reasons of weight and cost. After thorough research of alternative materials like steel and aluminum, stainless steel showed most suitable, to pick up the string tension that sums up to 49 kN. Historically there has never existed an open-design acoustic piano, but in light of the rather open-minded public of the 21st century it seems appropriate to offer an innovative product design.
- Realization and Technology
- The Una Corda design is strictly defined by the acoustic and technical properties of the piano, utilizing materials that serve best for each particular function. Stainless steel for the static frame serves for the lightness of the design, versus the heavy designs of traditional pianos, which all are equipped with cast iron frames. The Una Corda is completely hand-crafted, utilizing industry manufactured parts only for the action. The Una Corda is essentially a "green"product, no chemicals used.
- Operation and Interaction
- The Una Corda technically is played like traditional pianos, though based on its open design the player can follow the mechanical process of each note pressed. The sound character differs from any other existing piano by means of softness and clarity of tone, because of the one-string-per-note principle, the specific soundboard design, and the specific hammer felt. The action is modified to play faster than typical upright piano actions allow for.
- Project Duration and Location
- The project was started in February 2014 in Balingen, Germany, and basically finished by May 2015 in Germany, though it was finally completed in every detail only in December 2020 in Kuldiga, Latvia.
- Specifications
- 1330 mm x 670 mm x 1170 mm
- Keywords
- Una Corda, Una Corda Piano, Klavins, Klavins Piano, Piano Innovation
