Identity in Focus: Furniture Design at the A’ Design Award

The A’ Design Award’s 2024 furniture category showcased a striking focus on individuality. Among the winners, Edoardo Alessandro Sferra's _Sottosopra Chair_ challenges traditional furniture by embedding personal and cultural narratives. This asymmetrical seating concept, inspired by Sferra’s bilingual upbringing, features flipped planes that symbolize dissonance and synthesis.

Since its inception in 2010 in Como, Italy, the A’ Design Award has required entrants to submit comprehensive design dossiers, including detailed narratives and technical drawings. This year attracted over 38,000 entries, with 4,099 awarded across various categories. _Sottosopra_, crafted by Milan’s FabLap, distinguished itself in the Furniture and Homeware Design category for its visual boldness and Sferra’s commitment to sourcing: "The metal base was machined by a workshop in Monza that employs artisans from underprivileged backgrounds," he explained in an interview with _ARTDESENT_. "I wanted the production process to echo the chair’s themes of convergence."

Kalim Ashiru, a Lagos-based designer, introduced _Emi Bench_, a modular seating system inspired by Yoruba naming traditions. "'Emi' means 'soul,'" Ashiru noted during the awards' virtual press tour. Each segment of the bench is named after an Oriki—a praise poem used to evoke a person’s spiritual essence. Collaborating with local carpenters in Surulere, Ashiru produced the bench using iroko wood and earth-toned upholstery. "Mass production erases our stories," Ashiru argued. "This bench is an act of preservation as much as a piece of furniture."

While the A' Design Award aims to spotlight underrepresented narratives, critics highlight the tension between these ideals and the realities of the design market. Milan-based curator Chiara Consalvo has tracked award-winning designs from previous years, noting how few actually reach mass production. "The realities of scaling a piece like _Sottosopra_ are daunting," she said. "Retailers favor functional minimalism because it sells quickly. Telling a personal story takes time, and time isn’t cheap."

Some designers view awards like A’ Design as a strategy to navigate these challenges. Nicolette Adebayo, whose _Umo Table_ won in 2021, leveraged her award to establish a direct-to-consumer sales channel. Adebayo, originally from Ibadan and now in London, explained: "I stopped pitching to multi-label retailers. Instead, I used my award visibility to connect directly with a niche audience willing to invest in meaningful design."

To understand the tension between individuality and marketability, consider the award’s institutional dynamics. The A’ Design Award’s jury includes over 200 members, comprising design academics and practitioners. Submissions are evaluated on aesthetic, functional, and social impact criteria. The 2024 jury chair, Dutch architect Marcel Janssen, remarked: "Furniture design often falls into two traps—useless extravagance or soulless utility. This year, we were impressed by how many entrants rejected those binaries."

However, for designers in the Global South, competing in an international arena like the A’ Design Award can be costly. Entry fees range from €150 to €600 ($160–640 USD), not to mention the production costs for prototypes. Ashiru acknowledged the financial strain: "The cost of producing the _Emi Bench_ was subsidized by a grant from the African Design Fund, but not everyone has that access. The barrier to entry is real."

These award-winning pieces may not reshape global design paradigms, but they signal a growing community of practitioners who view furniture as more than mere objects. For Ashiru, Sferra, and others, embedding identity into furniture challenges the market and asserts autonomy. As Consalvo noted: "These projects may not reshape the Ikea catalogues of the world, but their impact lies elsewhere—in fostering a richer, more inclusive definition of what we consider design."

The next A’ Design Award submissions close in February 2025. This year’s winners raise a crucial question: how will the industry adapt to storytelling as a foundational element of design?