Press Release
Kazoo Design Studio Is Honored with the A' Design Award for Banana Na Na Home Decor in Homeware Design
Kazoo Design Studio acknowledged for homeware design by the international grand jury of the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 16, 2026 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has announced that Banana Na Na Home Decor by Kazoo Design Studio has been granted the A' Design Award in the Homeware Design category. The award was conferred within the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition and was decided 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 A' Design Award Means
The Iron A' Design Award is awarded to good designs that meet the rigorous professional and industrial standards set by the A' Design Awards. This recognition is reserved for works that demonstrate a solid understanding of design principles and show creativity within their execution. Recipients of the Iron A' Design Award are acknowledged for their practical innovations and contributions to their respective fields, providing solutions that improve quality of life and foster positive change. These designs are a testament to the skill and dedication of their creators, showcasing their ability to address real-world challenges through thoughtful design.
About Banana Na Na Home Decor
Banana Na Na is a decorative porcelain sculpture shaped like a banana in an upright standing position. The form explores how far a familiar silhouette can be altered while remaining recognizable. The overall U shape gives a sense of balance, while dashed and twisted ridges add a sense of rhythm. The ridges also act as supporting feet, because the piece has no flat base. Banana Na Na was modelled digitally and printed in three dimensions as a prototype, then cast in porcelain with a four part plaster mold. The width is 19 cm, the depth 4.3 cm and the height 8 cm.
About Kazoo Design Studio
For more than 20 years, Zeynep and Kostas have been working with computer generated imagery to create pre-viz for architecture, ads, short films and visual effects in documentaries and movies. All these years have led up to the formation of their brand Kazoo, which is solely based around their passion to create. Kazoo design studio is a place where curiosity has no boundaries, ideas and inspiration can come any moment. Kazoo objects are designed digitally, then a prototype is printed and post-processed and molds are made in order to finally hand-cast copies. Materials that are currently used for the final products are: Ceramics, Porcelain, Polyurethane Resin and Acrylic Resin.
Award Record
This recognition makes Kazoo Design Studio a winner of 6 A' Design Awards. The awards span the editions from 2023 - 2024 to 2025 - 2026 of the A' Design Award & Competition.
About the A' Decorative Items and Homeware Design Award
The A' Homeware Design Award is an international homeware design competition recognizing good homeware designs by leading brands and designers worldwide. The competition is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to homeware designers, product designers, industrial design studios and ceramic artists from all countries. Entries typically include tableware, lighting fixtures, cookware, decorative accessories, bathroom accessories and furniture. Awarded homeware designs are published at https://designers.org/design-category/homeware
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/175683
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/175683
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!175683
- Laureate Profile: https://designers.org/d/351488
- Further Information from the Laureate: https://www.kazoo.com.tr
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
- Banana Na Na Home Decor
- Function
- Home Decor
- Category
- Homeware Design
- Discipline
- Industrial Design
- Industry
- Furniture & Home and Packaging & Retail
- Colors
- Dark Gray, Gainsboro, Silver, Lavender and Gray
- Images
- 5
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Kazoo Design Studio
- Country
- Turkiye
- Recognition
- A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2025 - 2026
- Design ID
- #175683
Credits
- Team
- Konstantinos Paradeisopoulos and Zeynep Onder Paradeisopoulos
- Image Credits
- All photos belong to Kazoo Design Studio.
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- This controversial banana sculptural piece is a bold reinterpretation of a home decor object. Two key ideas shaped its design. Firstly the objective was to explore how much an object's form can be altered while still retaining its recognizability and secondly how to reimagine a banana in an upright standing position, defying its natural tendency to rest on its side.
- Inspiration
- Among all fruits, the banana has one of the most instantly recognizable silhouettes. It has repeatedly surfaced in pop art, paintings, sculptures, photographs, and installations cementing its role not only as an iconic form but also, at times, as a playful or provocative cultural symbol. The name of the object is derived from the combination of banana and the repetitive na na na na na chorus in Opus' 1984 song Live is Life.
- Research
- This object was an attempt of turning a portmanteau (merging of two words) into a physical object. The name of this object derives from the words banana and the chorus "na na na na na" sung in Opus' 1984 song "Live is Life". The objective was to make the banana look like it would turn from its' resting position (laying flat on its' side) to a standing position in order to dance. The banana edges have been changed from smooth continuous ones to wavy dashed ones in order to add a sense of rhythmical motion.
- Challenge
- The object does not have a flat base, but instead the ridges coming in from its sides play the role of supporting feet. Getting the object to sit correctly without rocking on a tabletop and not be back or front heavy was the biggest challenge that had to be overcome. A few different variations were made before finalizing the design that fulfilled the above criteria.
- Realization and Technology
- The product was digitally designed using 3d modelling software and the prototype was 3d printed. A four part plaster mold was made from the prototype using traditional mold-making techniques. Porcelain was picked as the material of choice for its complementary role in the object's final look.
- Operation and Interaction
- The overall U-shaped form of the object gives it a sense of balance, while the dashed and twisted ridges add a sense of rhythm to its character.
- Project Duration and Location
- This project started in August 2025 and was completed within one month in Istanbul, Turkey.
- Specifications
- Width: 19 cm x Depth: 4.3 cm x Height: 8 cm
- Keywords
- banana, contemporary, pop art, home decor
