Press Release
Beke Dining Chair by John G Williams Wins the A' Design Award in Furniture Design
John G Williams acknowledged for furniture design by the international grand jury of the 2018 - 2019 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 25, 2019 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has confirmed the A' Design Award in the Furniture Design category for Beke Dining Chair by John G Williams, designed for John G Williams Fine Furniture. The award was conferred within the 2018 - 2019 A' Design Award & Competition and was determined 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.
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 Beke Dining Chair
Beke means 'peace' and 'to be connected to'. The Beke dining chair design supports an ergonomic and aesthetic sense of peace, and at the same time a sense of connection with the space at the table. The design respects the simplicity of the Danish Modern philosophy, and yet incorporates a shaped solid hardwood seat and back; integrates South African Cape Dutch architectural motifs with a sweeping architectural profile; and uses a clean ash frame to showcase the richness of local and international hardwoods.
About John G Williams
John G Williams Fine Furniture attempts to take bespoke timber design and craftsmanship to a new level. Traditional techniques are taken from their original context and applied in daring new ways to generate designs that are distinctive and fresh. The designs are luxurious without being fussy – they pair beautiful hardwood timbers with elegantly sweeping ash frames to deliver high impact furniture. The work captures the overall lightness of the Scandinavian style, while celebrating the rich colour and intensity of American and African hardwoods.
Award Record
This recognition makes John G Williams a winner of 2 A' Design Awards. The awards span the editions from 2017 - 2018 to 2018 - 2019 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. The competition 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. Entries typically include chairs, tables, sofas, beds, cabinets and shelves. Awarded furniture designs are published at https://designers.org/design-category/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/70678
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/70678
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!70678
- Laureate Profile: https://designers.org/d/194456
- Further Information from the Laureate: https://www.johngwilliamsfinefurniture.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
- Beke Dining Chair
- Function
- Dining Chair
- Category
- Furniture Design
- Discipline
- Industrial Design
- Industry
- Furniture & Home
- Colors
- Dark Olive Green, Dark Slate Gray, Dim Gray, Light Gray and Rosy Brown
- Images
- 5
- Client
- John G Williams Fine Furniture
The Recognition
- Laureate
- John G Williams
- Country
- South Africa
- Recognition
- A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2018 - 2019
- Design ID
- #70678
Credits
- Image Credits
- All photos by John G Williams
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- The Beke design uses a combination of innovative components. The seat is a unique design laminated from individually shaped profiles to yield the final solid hardwood architectural form. The rear legs are formed in two parts: first by steam bending the graceful form, and then laminating for long term dimensional stability. The rails are profiled in an attempt to reinforce the overall lightness and sense of peace, and to support the cantilevered seat over the front rail.
- Inspiration
- Beke means 'peace' and 'to be connected to'. This design is intended to put the user at ease, for extended comfort at the dining table – to provide an ergonomic and aesthetic sense of peace. The design attempts to realize this sense of well-being, and at the same time to support a sense of connection with the space at the table, and hence engagement with the other diners. The design: respects the simplicity of the Danish Modern, and yet incorporates a luxurious solid hardwood seat and back; integrates South African Cape Dutch architectural motifs with a sweeping architectural profile; uses a clean ash frame to showcase the richness of local and international hardwoods.
- Research
- The Carl Hansen library of designs were carefully reviewed and analysed; Earlier designs were critiqued, including last year's Zene design; Various sweeping architectural forms were referenced; Steam bending method and realisation were researched drawing on various inputs including helpful general introduction by Veritas; Template cutting and trimming methods were researched and prototyped, to understand the boundaries and possibilities.
- Challenge
- The hardest part of this design was to make sure that the end result was clean, simple and graceful. On multiple occasions unduly complicated ideas were abandoned in favour of simpler, cleaner design details
- Realization and Technology
- The chair design incorporates a number of innovative components: custom profiled hardwood seat; steam bent rear legs; coopered backrest; and shaped rails: Custom profiled hardwood seat. The seat is constructed from over twenty individually shaped profiles that are formed from a solid hardwood, such as walnut. The laminated rough form is finished with purpose modified sanding tooling, to realize the final shape. Threaded inserts in the base of the seat provide strong engineered connection to the frame for the cantilevered seat form. Steam bent rear legs. The rear legs are steam bent in two pieces; cooled and stabilized; and then laminated to generate the final leg forms.
- Operation and Interaction
- The chair works well at the dining table and, when pushed back or used elsewhere, is also comfortable for extended periods of time. Moving the chair around is easy – the hand naturally finds the hand-shaped indent at the bottom edge of the backrest and the well-balanced chair is readily lifted from this point
- Project Duration and Location
- Work started on the design in March 2018 and was completed it in May 2018.
- Specifications
- Overall dimensions: 880mm high; 520mm wide; 600mm deep Seat size in plan: 520mm wide x 440 mm deep Backrest size in elevation: 540mm wide x 200mm high Seat height from floor: 460mm. Raked back at 5 degrees Back rest height from floor: 825mm. Raked back at 18 degrees Weight: 5.5kg
- Keywords
- Beke, dining chair, south africa, hardwood, curved, danish modern, minimalist, ash, walnut, graceful
