Porada Award: a relational victory

Soothy and Fiordilatte Chair are the two winning projects in the Porada International Design Award 2020, on the theme of the chair

Every year, the Porada International Design Award organized by Porada Arredi sets off to find furnishing proposals capable of interpreting the company’s values and identity, as a protagonist of Italian design. Each time, the contest addresses a different merchandise category.
Both the projects taking first prize this time, curiously enough (in the two categories, professionals and students), focus on the importance of relational experience.

Porada International Design Award 2020. La Giuria
Porada International Design Award 2020. La Giuria

To give form to the Porada philosophy, where the refined art of woodworking is an indispensable factor, the designers Cornelius Comanns and Francesco Canali have approached the chair in its most emotional and empathic guise, convincing the jury (which convened in the fascinating location of the greenhouse of Villa del Grumello, in Como) chaired by Bruno Allievi (CEO of Porada) with Tiziano Allievi (Partner of Porada).

Their winning entry is called Soothy, and it combines the functions of a rocking chair and a cradle in a single piece, which can be used by a parent together with a child. Cornelius Comanns (in the professional category) took his cue from the countless needs that have arisen for parents during the pandemic, to be able to work, relax or simply perform tasks while still taking care of their children.

Fiordilatte Chair. Porada International Design Award 2020
Fiordilatte Chair. Porada International Design Award 2020

Francesco Canali, a student of New Technologies for Art at the Brera Academy, has captured the idea of relationship and the warmth of the domestic hearth in the original “Fiordilatte Chair,” with a vivid visual reference. The chair becomes an emotional medium, whose sinuous design and softness bring an immediate sense of relaxation and wellbeing.

While solid wood is a structural element in Soothy, in the Fiordilatte Chair it is a trait d’union for two other components, the back and seat in memory foam.