Awarded

Andreas Saxer

'Made in Asia', furniture and accessories for the interior

Product and Industrial Design

Jury report

Chop Sticks and Wardrobes
How can one take in­spi­ra­tion from Asia with­out suc­cumb­ing to ex­oti­cism? Zürich in­dus­trial de­signer An­dreas Saxer has trav­elled ex­ten­sively in the Far East and has taught de­sign as a vis­it­ing pro­fes­sor in Tai­wan. Based on his ob­ser­va­tions of every­day ob­jects, the 'Made in Asia' col­lec­tion suc­cess­fully side­steps Asian clichés. Trained at the Zürich Uni­ver­sity of Fine Arts, Saxer noted how boards for tofu are stacked to save space. He adopted this idea in his de­sign for a sys­tem of stack­able shelves: three grey table-like MDF el­e­ments can be stacked to taste on two stools. The re­sult­ing 'Tofu' side­board suits a no­madic lifestyle since it can be var­i­ously as­sem­bled and taken apart with great ease. 'Tofu' it is still a pro­to­type, but the wardrobe 'Chop Stick' is al­ready in se­r­ial pro­duc­tion. It con­sists of a sim­ple alu­minium pole sup­ported by two pairs of oak legs. In this case, the de­signer took in­spi­ra­tion from the way the roofs of tem­ples are con­structed. The beauty of the wardrobe lies in its sim­plic­ity: re­sem­bling chop­sticks, the pairs of legs are joined to­gether and ac­quire sta­bil­ity through the weight of the alu­minium pole and above all the clothes. The lamp 'Shin­ing' is the most im­me­di­ate ren­der­ing of its Asian source, namely the tra­di­tional lantern. The shade is made of cot­ton with a geo­met­ric pat­tern of welded seams, and vis­i­ble stitch­ing in colour on the ce­ramic el­e­ments. By day the lamps look white, but when they are switched on, they glow a sub­tle green, pink or light blue in keep­ing with their stitch­ing. Saxer's de­sign is so­phis­ti­cated and yet pleas­ingly un­der­stated and func­tional.
Peter Stohler

Biography

Andreas Saxer
Education
Industrial Designer

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