DI: What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?
: The main idea has been exploring "lightweight" material properties by using difficult materials like metal but with the help of digital design tools, making quite precise reductions and refinements.
DI: What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?
: We have been exploring how to use metal in a more different way for a while. Before this project, we have successfully finished another table which is made of marble and metal with flat but highly perforated morphology. With cellular table, we wanted to go beyond the flat morphology and explore metal behaviour in a much more complex but efficient structure by using multiple layers in different densities.
DI: What are your future plans for this award winning design?
: We have managed to build two prototypes so far and currently we are looking at more industry partners to bring this to a mass production level. The idea of using 3dprinting and metal finishing is still quite crucial in order to achieve the precision that brings different spatial conditions with this project.
DI: How long did it take you to design this particular concept?
: The design process for this particular table was less than six months but this specific subject has been at least four or five years in my research field.
DI: Why did you design this particular concept? Was this design commissioned or did you decide to pursuit an inspiration?
: The idea of pushing the limits of using metal and 3dprinting in a new particular furniture type came from our industry partner and previous client (Janusta) with the success of our previous collaboration.
DI: Is your design being produced or used by another company, or do you plan to sell or lease the production rights or do you intent to produce your work yourself?
: We are currently collaborating with Janusta on this project but in order to achieve a bigger influence we are also discussing with other industrial partners for fabrication and distribution.
DI: What made you design this particular type of work?
: I have been interested in cellular structures in nature for a while and particularly their both structural and spatial performances were fascinating.
DI: Where there any other designs and/or designers that helped the influence the design of your work?
: Although they are architects, the works of Le corbusier and Enric Miralles have been quite influential for me in terms of precise material and form manipulation on multiple scales.
DI: Who is the target customer for his design?
: Anyone who needs a table!
DI: What sets this design apart from other similar or resembling concepts?
: The idea of creating a very lightweight metal piece with this project has been quite crucial so we have been lucky to avoid any specific trend or style.
DI: How did you come up with the name for this design? What does it mean?
: Cellular has been an easy choice as we are both looking at the usage of multiple layers with minimum material waste.
DI: Which design tools did you use when you were working on this project?
: Algorithmic design tools have been quite essential on my work to refine specific design evaluations. I usually work with visual basic or C+ programming languages to define overall design criteria and later-on bring all these information to any CAD software that our manufacturers or fabricators use to produce both prototypes and actual results.
DI: What is the most unique aspect of your design?
: It's extremely light and the sculptural quality of its structure brings very different spatial conditions to any specific interior space.
DI: Who did you collaborate with for this design? Did you work with people with technical / specialized skills?
: Fabricators and our usual rapid prototyping partners.
DI: What is the role of technology in this particular design?
: Technology helps to refine some of the engineering issues and also avoids any confusion between designer and fabricators by simply communicating via digital design files.
DI: What are some of the challenges you faced during the design/realization of your concept?
: Due to its geometry (spherical mesh topology), the digital files have been quite heavy so we have to update our computers to handle the project!
DI: How did you decide to submit your design to an international design competition?
: I have been advised by some colleagues and friends to submit this project on A'Design Awards. The opportunity to share this type of project and research with a larger audience is always exciting.
DI: What did you learn or how did you improve yourself during the designing of this work?
: We have gained a lot of technical knowledge about metal works and rapid prototyping tools.
DI: Any other things you would like to cover that have not been covered in these questions?
: Thank you!