It's a Metaphor Masa by Emanuele Di Bacco is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2020 A' Design Award de Bronz in Design de Mobilier Competition Category.
BronzMobilier· 2020
It's a Metaphor Masa
Client: Gladstone London
A' Design Award de Bronz Winner in Mobilier Category
- 15,294
- Verified Award Winner
- Verify Award Status for #96553
The Design
About It's a Metaphor Masa
Acest proiect este foarte amuzant în sine, în timp ce crește conștientizarea socială cu privire la egalitatea de gen. Mai exact, folosește o metaforă care izvorăște din sumo, unul dintre cele mai dominate sporturi masculine din societatea japoneză. Femeile nu au voie să concureze profesional în acest sport, având în vedere reguli sexiste, care le limitează în afara inelului de luptă, ca urmare a impurității lor din cauza sângelui menstrual. Atragerea unui războinic de sumo la pământ, în slujba unui ghiveci de flori sau a oricărui alt popor de care are nevoie, dezecrează faptul că sumo-dominanța macho încă mai ține, prin simpla utilizare a ironiei și a umorului.
The Recognition
About the A' Design Award de Bronz
It's a Metaphor Masa a câștigat A' Design Award de Bronz, o recunoaștere extrem de prestigioasă acordată designurilor remarcabile care se disting prin creativitate, ingeniozitate și istețime. Câștigătorii Bronzului sunt artefacte din plin pricepute și izbitor de creative, care atestă experiența vastă, imaginația și resursele designerilor lor. Se așteaptă ca It's a Metaphor Masa să fie un obiect foarte apreciat, admirat și prețuit, remarcabil de profesionist și inovator. Acest design câștigător al A' Design Award de Bronz încorporează cele mai bune practici din artă, știință, design și tehnologie și este excelent prin atenția la detalii. It's a Metaphor Masa satisface splendid nevoile, atinge dorințele, vrăjește sentimentele și stârnește curiozitatea.
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
Sponsored
Explore Beyond Designers.org
Discover products, services and opportunities from our advertising partners.
More to Explore
Related Designs
Explore more award-winning designs from the same category, selected by merit.
