Milano / Zanotta’s Louise by Philippe Nigro wins top prize at Archiproducts Design Awards 2018.

zanotta_news-premio-archiproduct_2018_foto_3 zanotta_news-premio-archiproduct_2018_foto_1 zanotta_news-premio-archiproduct_2018_foto_2

With a goal of celebrating design excellence from around the world, the Archiproduct Design Awards honors innovation, craftsmanship, and the emotional power of design excellence across 14 categories.

For its third iteration, more than 600 entries were received from 15 different countries, and the winners have been selected by an elite panel of judges including Paola Navone, Mario Bellini, and India Mahdavi, to name just a few. This year’s recipients will receive their awards during a presentation in Milan on November 20th.  

Zanotta is proud to announce that the Louise armchair, designed by Philippe Nigro, has received the distinction of being named a winner in the furniture category.  For the Louise, Nigro has deconstructed this armchair into just a small handful of discrete components: a cushioned seat and backrest (with removable upholstery), and only eight structural pieces. Extremely slender and minimal, these elements were designed to extract readily from the smallest possible amount of solid beech wood — rendering this not just an engineering success, but a clever, even elegant, accomplishment in material conservation, and sustainability.

At first glance, the Louise offers a geometry of form that is simultaneously bold and elegant, but upon closer inspection, one can clearly see that the form is not merely an aesthetic configuration, but rather the careful placement of a support system, each piece both resting upon and supporting those around it.  The Louise simply slots together, an achievement in micro-architecture, and we are honored that is has received this recognition.