Press Release
Cameron Smith Is Honored with the Bronze A' Design Award for Colby Lounge Chair in Furniture Design
Cameron Smith honored for furniture design by the international grand jury of the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 22, 2026 /DesignNewswire/ Colby Lounge Chair by Cameron Smith, designed for Furniture Smith, has been granted the Bronze 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.
The Bronze A' Design Award Explained
The Bronze A' Design Award is given to outstanding designs that showcase a high degree of creativity and practicality. It recognizes the dedication and skill of designers who produce work that stands out for its thoughtful development and innovative use of materials and technology. These designs are acknowledged for their professional execution and potential to influence industry standards positively. Winning this award highlights the designer's ability to blend form and function effectively, offering solutions that enhance people's lives and wellbeing.
About Colby Lounge Chair
Colby Lounge is a lounge chair designed for children and adults. The form is based on two rounded elliptical cushions inspired by the human body. The rounded shapes allow several seating positions, so a user can sit upright, lounge sideways or curl up. The legs are made of precision-bent aluminum with a powder-coat finish, and the non-parallel stance gives stability without cross bracing. The foam core is covered with Alcantara microfiber in solid or striped colors. The chair measures 1020 mm wide, 930 mm deep and 760 mm tall.
About Cameron Smith
Cameron Smith has a passion for design and approaches everything he does as a design challenge. With design training from Stanford University’s renowned design program, he’s built a successful design career founding and running a product development consulting firm. With 30 years of design experience, he has been honored with international awards for furniture, lighting and product designs. His background in mechanical engineering and industrial design helped shape his design philosophy which centers around exploring design and the interaction between people and the products they use in both technical and emotional ways.
Award Record
Cameron Smith is a winner of 5 A' Design Awards, including this recognition. The awards were granted between the 2021 - 2022 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/174966
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/174966
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!174966
- Laureate Profile: https://designers.org/d/322924
- Further Information from the Laureate: https://www.furnituresmith.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
- Colby Lounge Chair
- Function
- Chair
- Category
- Furniture Design
- Discipline
- Industrial Design
- Industry
- Furniture & Home
- Colors
- Dark Red, Teal, Cornflower Blue, Crimson and Maroon
- Images
- 5
- Client
- Furniture Smith
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Cameron Smith
- Country
- United States of America
- Recognition
- Bronze A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2025 - 2026
- Design ID
- #174966
Credits
- Team
- Cameron Smith, designer
- Image Credits
- Meagan West
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- Meet the Colby Lounge Chair: a whimsical, playful chair designed to ignite joy and creativity in children and adults. Inspired by shapes that echo the human form, its soft rounded elliptical design invites people to explore various seating positions and engage in imaginative play. Enhanced by vibrant Alcantara fabric coverings, Colby's Lounge Chairadds personality to any environment, making it versatile for both residential and commercial spaces.
- Inspiration
- The design originated from a chair prototype with two elliptical forms I initially built for my son, Colby, when he was a baby. I reimagined the concept as a lounge chair centered on addressing children's need for playful, imaginative furniture while meeting parents' requirements for durability and safety. The human-form-inspired elliptical geometry encourages multiple seating positions, transforming furniture into an interactive play element that withstands active use.
- Research
- Design research focused on children's furniture and interaction pattern with the objective to create seating that encourages active play while meeting parental durability requirements. Methodology involved iterative prototyping from initial concept through 3D printed scale models to full engineering prototypes. Primary participant was designer's child providing real-world usage insights. Results showed children naturally adopt multiple seating positions when furniture permits. Key insight: traditional static seating limits child engagement. Impact: demonstrates furniture can serve dual function as play equipment, influencing family furniture market toward more interactive designs.
- Challenge
- The primary design challenge was engineering the complex leg geometry required for both aesthetic and structural performance. The legs feature multi-directional bends, creating a wider front stance than rear. The non-parallel leg configuration was used as a design and structural solution to keep the chair from racking without the need for crossbracing. A custom fastener design was needed to overcome the geometric constraints maintaining clean visual lines while ensuring structural integrity under climbing loads.
- Realization and Technology
- The structural legs are precision-bent aluminum finished in various powder-coat colorways. High-performance Alcantara microfiber is used to cover the foam core for a durable and comfortable finish. Multi-panel construction allows for solid or striped color applications. The human-form-inspired dual-ellipse configuration is engineered for structural integrity under dynamic loading conditions typical of active play environments.
- Operation and Interaction
- Colby Lounge Chair invites natural, intuitive interaction through its soft, rounded shapes that invite people to interact with the chair in different ways. Users can sit traditionally, lounge sideways, or curl up. Children instinctively explore different positions and use the sturdy aluminum legs as climbing aids to reach the seat, turning furniture into playground equipment. The elliptical cushions cradle the body comfortably in any position. Parents appreciate how the design withstands climbing and bouncing while encouraging creative, active sitting that keeps children engaged
- Project Duration and Location
- The first sketch was created in 2022. The first prototypes were completed May 2025 with the design entering production.
- Specifications
- 1020mm wide x 930mm deep x 760mm tall
- Keywords
- lounge chair, Children furniture, playful design
