Porada's designs of tomorrow

The Italian design heavyweight has announced the winners of its prestigious international design award 2019.

Known for its love of wood, craftsmanship and its ability to turn a log into an artwork, Italian furniture brand Porada is a leader in the world of modern design.

Its collection is wide and varied, made up of a multitude of occasional furniture developed alongside some huge names such as Marconato and Zappa, Carlo Ballabio, David Dolcini, Emmanuel Gallina, Patrick Jouin, Tarcisio Colzani, Staffan Tollgard, Studio Opera, Gino Carollo and Studio Buratti among others. So it is always exciting to find out the winners of Porada’s prestigious design award, a roll call of names to know, ones to watch, and imminent future stars.

The six winners – three in the Professional category and three in the Student category – were selected from 316 projects submitted (222 in the professional category and 94 in the student category).

As may be expected many of the submissions were from Italy, but there was an equally positive international response: Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Egypt, Japan, Jordan, Turkey, Thailand are just some of the nations involved.

The judging panel selected the winning designs on their outstanding quality, and the designers' ability to grasp the spirit of the competition by proposing a number of innovative and original projects based on different types of sideboard and cupboard, which could represent the Italian design brand.

PROFESSIONAL CATEGORY

First prize in this category went to“Hackford” byApostolos Papadimitriou.

It was chosen by the jury because it was created from the search for a new entertainment unit, capable of hosting numerous devices that could accompany the TV in the near future, such as TV service boxes, game consoles, hubs, Apple TVs and stereo equipment.

STUDENT CATEGORY

First prize in this category was awarded toNiccolò Devetag, a student at Politecnico di Milano for "Frame”. The project, born from the idea of maintaining a neutral element, consists of a display unit for the night area or commercial environments. Trying to combine aesthetics, functionality and simplicity of production, the structure is composed of wooden panels, which through the play of light, the contrast between surfaces and different geometries, enhance the worked solid wood.

The jury was made up of Bruno Allievi (CEO Porada), Tiziano Allievi (Assocaite Porada), Roberto de Paolis (POLI.design), Charlotte Dunagan (Dunagan Diverio Design Group), James Liang (CEO, Juyan International Co. Ltd., Taiwan), David Nicholls (Deputy Editor, House & Garden Uk), Livia Peraldo (Director, Elle Decor Italia), Federico Pepe (Le Dictateur Studio) and Hicham Lahlou (International Designer & Interior Architect).

To make their decision on the works the jury considered their originality, their degree of innovation, and research into new design solutions concerning solid wood, experimentation with materials and surface finishes, the flexibility of the product, and innovative concepts for the use of wooden furniture and contemporary furnishing accessories.

In the New Year the drawings of the two first prize designs will be brought to life as prototypes and presented at Salone di Mobile in Milan.

See howPorada celebrated its 70th anniversary.