It's a Metaphor Bord by Emanuele Di Bacco is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2020 A' Design Award i Bronse in Møbeldesign Competition Category.
BronseMøbler· 2020
It's a Metaphor Bord
Client: Gladstone London
A' Design Award i Bronse Winner in Møbler Category
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The Design
About It's a Metaphor Bord
Dette prosjektet pirrer moro ved seg selv og øker sosial bevissthet om likestilling. Konkret bruker den en metafor som kommer fra sumo, en av de mest mannsdominerte idrettene i det japanske samfunnet. Kvinner har ikke lov til å konkurrere profesjonelt i denne idretten gitt sexistiske regler, som grenser dem utenfor brytningsringen som et resultat av deres urenhet på grunn av menstruasjonsblodet. Å slå en sumokriger til bakken, til tjeneste for en blomsterpotte eller andre behov folk måtte ha, avskriver den macho-dominansen sumo fremdeles holder, ved ganske enkelt å bruke ironi og humor.
The Recognition
About the A' Design Award i Bronse
It's a Metaphor Bord er vinner av A' Design Award i Bronse, en høyt prestisjefylt anerkjennelse som tildeles enestående design som utmerker seg ved kreativitet, oppfinnsomhet og skarpsindighet. Bronsevinnere er rikt dyktige og påfallende kreative gjenstander som bekrefter designernes store erfaring, fantasi og ressurssterkhet. It's a Metaphor Bord forventes å være en høyt ansett, beundret og verdsatt gjenstand som er bemerkelsesverdig profesjonell og nyskapende. Dette designet, som har vunnet A' Design Award i Bronse, rommer beste praksis innen kunst, vitenskap, design og teknologi og utmerker seg ved sin omtanke for detaljer. It's a Metaphor Bord tilfredsstiller behov på en strålende måte, berører ønsker, sjarmerer følelser og vekker nysgjerrighet.
Behind the Design
Press Kit
Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.
- Unique Properties
- This is a furniture product able to speak and provoke, challenging with irony and a clumsy smile unethical behaviors of our times.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Measures are in mm.
Glass platform ø: 1800 / Glass platform thickness: 10 / Body with: 850 / Body height: 750 / Body depth: 1000 - Tags
- table, social design, equality of the sexes, Japan, sumo
- Production Technology
- 3D-printed assembled object. It can be produced either way with Eco-friendly 3D-printed Poly Lactic Acid filaments or carbon fibers. The structure is divided in multiparts, hand refined and assembled. Successively the whole body is glazed by immersion and finished with a vitreous enamel coating.
A round tempered glass is based on the structure and secured using discreet clear glass high-grip bumpers, specifically designed for the purpose.
The structural analysis take into consideration the chosen materials and the multipart splitting process, where every cut and internal printed reinforcements are made to dump and sustain the weight the structure will go through. - Design Challenge
- The creative challenge of this project is to combine the practical function of a furniture piece and communication contents as a means of social commitment. Sumo wrestlers are so well regarded and revered in society to be almost considered as macho semi-gods in their country; placing one of them in a conscious submissive position -grateful and happy to help others- wishes to rebalance a more male-dominated thinking to a non-discriminatory one.
- Research
- The main focus of this project -together with many pieces produced by our design studio- is to raise awareness about social rights and equal opportunity. Specifically, the target of our research was speaking about the equality of the sexes without being moralistic or patronising; in order to do this we chose to use irony and humour, two powerful rhetorical devices to convey a disputed concept without too much bloodshed.
- Inspiration
- "The piece of wood came alive and it was able to speak". That's pretty much what happened to Carlo Collodi's Pinocchio; likewise, adding communication contents to a product, gives this object an identity and the ability to speak to people.
This project is poking fun at itself while aim to raise social awareness on equality of the sexes. Specifically, it uses a metaphor which springs from sumo, one of the most male dominated sport in the Japanese society. Women are not allowed to compete professionally in this sport given sexist rules, which by tradition border them outside the wrestling ring as a result of their "impurity" by reason of the menstrual blood.
Knocking a sumo warrior to the ground at the service of a flower pot -or any other need people may require from a table- ironically desecrates this macho dominance still present in some traditions. - Project Duration
- The project has started in December 2019 in London and finished, as it is shown, in February 2020. Currently, the table has a unique prototype and will be ready to be produced and launched serially in May 2020.
- Operation Flow
- A table which can hosts up to 10 seaters. Ideal to be placed wherever an open minded spirit is at home.
- Patents
- Copyrights belong to Emanuele Di Bacco
- Team Members
- Emanuele Di Bacco
- Image Credits
- Emanuele Di Bacco all Rights Reserved
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