Soo No. 2 Stoel by Sangin Park is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2026 A' Design Award in Zilver in Meubelontwerp Competition Category.
ZilverMeubels· 2026
Soo No. 2 Stoel
by Sangin Park
A' Design Award in Zilver Winner in Meubels Category
Verified Award Winner
Verify Award Status for #179701The Design
About Soo No. 2 Stoel
Soo No. 2 is een houten stoel ontworpen voor dagelijks gebruik. Bij de meeste stoelen lopen de achterpoten omhoog door om de rugleuning te ondersteunen. Bij Soo No. 2 zijn de achterpoten en de rugleuningsteunen gescheiden in onafhankelijke elementen. Deze scheiding verbetert de constructieve stabiliteit en creëert een helder visueel evenwicht. De poten zijn cilindrisch en de zitting is gevlochten met Deens koord. Alle constructieve verbindingen zijn uitgevoerd met pen-en-gatverbindingen, en doorgaande verbindingen vormen kleine ruitvormige details langs de zijkanten van het frame. De armleuningen en rugleuningsteunen zijn bevestigd met discrete messing pennen.
The Recognition
About the A' Design Award in Zilver
Soo No. 2 Stoel is winnaar van de A' Design Award in Zilver, een buitengewoon prestigieuze erkenning die wordt toegekend aan topontwerpen die prachtig en indrukwekkend zijn. Winnaars in Zilver zijn enorm briljante en uiterst creatieve werken die de uitmuntende expertise, het talent en de scherpzinnigheid van hun ontwerpers illustreren. Soo No. 2 Stoel wordt verwacht een prachtig paradepaardje te zijn dat opmerkelijk professioneel en diepgaand innovatief is. Dit ontwerp dat de A' Design Award in Zilver heeft gewonnen, is een hoogst opmerkelijke, bewonderde uitvinding die baat en de grenzen van kunst, wetenschap, ontwerp en technologie verlegt. Soo No. 2 Stoel is een zeer benijde creatie die verlangens oproept, positieve gevoelens brengt en verbazing en verwondering doet ontvlammen.
Behind the Design
Press Kit
Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.
- Unique Properties
- The most distinctive feature of this chair is the design of its rear legs. While conventional chairs extend the rear legs upward to support the backrest as two vertical columns, this approach was reconsidered in terms of structural stability. By separating the rear legs from the backrest support as independent elements, the design achieves both enhanced structural integrity and a clear sense of visual balance.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Width 580mm x Depth 640mm x Height 770mm
- Tags
- chair, chair design, woodworking
- Production Technology
- In realizing this chair, certain elements were intentionally kept traditional, including the cylindrical legs and a seat woven with Danish cord. Special attention was required where the squared frame members meet the round legs. All Structural joints are crafted using mortise and tenon joinery, with through mortise and tenon joints forming subtle diamond-shaped details along the frame sides. The armrests and back rest supports are fixed with discreet brass pins, preserving the clarity and simplicity of the overall shape.
- Design Challenge
- Design is shaped by the social and cultural context in which it is produced. Working within the Korean cultural context, where floor-based living has historically shaped furniture traditions, forms such as chests and low tables developed more clearly than chairs. This absence can create uncertainty for contemporary woodworkers, who often reference traditional architecture when designing chairs. This project began by questioning whether traditional forms were created primarily for aesthetic expression or as practical responses to life and the human body. Rather than replicating inherited forms, the focus shifted toward designing a chair that responds to bodily experience and everyday use.
- Research
- Type of Research :
Practice-based design research.
Research Objective :
To explore how visual stability and comfort interact in chair design.
Methodology :
Full-scale making and iterative adjustment of structure and angles.
Data Collection and Research Tools Used :
Physical prototypes, sitting tests, and dimensional comparison.
Participants or Experiments :
Separating rear legs from backrest support to resolve structural conflict.
Results :
Greater formal freedom and improved balance.
Insights :
Because rear legs and backrest supports perform different roles and absorb forces differently when seated, separating them—beyond concerns of material efficiency—allows chair design to become more flexible and expressive.
Impacts :
The study contributes to furniture design by demonstrating how structural separation can expand formal possibilities while improving everyday seating comfort. - Inspiration
- The chair was inspired by 12 months of building 12 different chairs, during which the relationship between the rear legs and the backrest support became a recurring concern. In conventional designs, rear leg placement that improves stability often compromises posture, while configurations that support proper seating increase the risk of tipping, with angled legs further distorting the overall form. These tensions led to the decision to separate the two functions into distinct structural elements
- Project Duration
- This chair is the final outcome of a personal project involving the creation of 12 different chairs over a 12 month period. The making of this chair itself, including the final wax finish, took approximately twenty days. However, the process of determining the appropriate shapes and compositions for each part took place almost a year. The chair was crafted in December 2025 in Go-yang City, on the outskirts of Seoul, South Korea.
- Operation Flow
- A chair is the piece of furniture that comes into closest contact with the human body. Beyond visual appeal, it must satisfy the highly subjective requirement of comfort. As the position and proportion of each element strongly shape the user’s experience, several dimensions were referenced from a classic chair by Hans J. Wegner, known for its balanced and familiar comfort. Interestingly, adopting only selected measurements leads to a distinctly new experience, revealing the unique and subtle nature of how a chair interacts with the human body.
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