A Slovak undergraduate student from the Woodworking Faculty of the Technical University in Zvolen has won an International Design Award in a prestigious student competition launched by global furniture and accessories manufacturer Hettich. Victorious over 1,600 other ideas from around the world, Lukáš Priečka’s Transfoarmchair, an interactive armchair, was chosen in the category of intelligent furniture, the TASR newswire wrote.
The chair, which currently only exists as a design concept, is projected to reach the product market no earlier than 2030. The chair would be able to change shape, transforming itself through the agency of a magnetic field, controlled by voice.
“Having around six weeks to process the whole concept I was compelled to act quickly on the idea,” Priečka told TASR.
His aim was to devise interaction between product and user employing sound, colour and shape. “After some two weeks I had a vague idea of the design,” the student said. He isn't sure what intrigued the jury most about his design.
“Perhaps it was the idea of transformation that was shared by all five finalists. The difference was seen in the implementation of that idea, which was done by all the designers in very original ways,” he said.
A total of €20,000 in prize money was divided up between the designers of the top-ten entries. Priecko received his award in Cologne from city mayor Friz Schramm and representatives of the Hettich firm.
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
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