Spline Design Hub's "Cadence of the Spiral" Wins Silver at Italy's A' Design Award

Spline Design Hub Inc. (Head Office: Meguro-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director: Yusuke Kamiyama) has been honored with the Silver A' Design Award in the A' Fine Arts and Art Installation Design Award category of the internationally recognized A' Design Award & Competition, based in Italy, for its self-produced work "Cadence of the Spiral."

Award Overview

Award Name: A' Design Award

Award Rank: Silver A' Design Award

Award Category: A' Fine Arts and Art Installation Design Award

Award-winning Work Name: Cadence of the Spiral

Recipient: Spline Design Hub

Award Announcement Date: May 5, 2026

Work Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/182460

About the Award-winning Work

"Cadence of the Spiral" is a kinetic installation inspired by the movement of the mainsprings inherent in mechanical watches.

Thin, flexible metal spirals unfold, supported by multiple arms that independently expand and contract, creating a continuous rhythm of tension and release. This undulation propagates throughout the structure, constantly generating new, evolving orders. The continuously shifting form of the spiral quietly outlines the invisible contours of time, bringing a sense of rhythm and breath to the space.

From Spline Design Hub's Website:

https://www.spline-d.com/projects/cadence-of-the-spiral

Production Background

Spline Design Hub is dedicated to creating new experiences through the practice of design engineering that transcends sensibility and technology.

This work originated from the internal structure and movement of a clock, a device for measuring time, but aimed to translate it into a spatial experience rather than merely reproducing its mechanism. By reconfiguring the flow of time not to be "seen" but to be "felt," the objective was to engage the very nature of perception.

Award Highlights

Unique approach transforming mechanical structures into sensory experiences

Spatial expression through spiral structure and kinetic movement

Design appealing to bodily senses like rhythm and periodicity, beyond mere sight

Integrated process spanning design and engineering

Comment from Representative Kamiyama

"It is a great honor that 'Cadence of the Spiral' has received the Silver A' Design Award. This work was an attempt to translate the energy and temporality residing in the small mechanism of a mechanical watch mainspring into a spatial experience. My heartfelt thanks go to the production team who brought this to fruition by navigating between design and engineering, and to everyone at Seiko Watch Corporation who engaged in the initial dialogues that sparked this project. Spline Design Hub will continue its practice of weaving together sensibility and technology, giving form to unseen values."

About A' Design Award & Competition

A' Design Award & Competition is an international design award based in Italy. It evaluates and recognizes excellent designs, concepts, and projects from around the world, judged by an international panel of experts, academics, and media representatives from various fields. Every year, judging is conducted in over 100 categories, attracting entries from more than 90 countries worldwide. Award results are announced annually on May 1.

About Spline Design Hub

"Smoothly connecting sensibility and technology"—this is the guiding principle of our design studio. We are involved in projects that transcend expressive methods and fields, such as installation production, product design, and R&D and product development with research institutions. Technology and beauty, hardware and software, logic and intuition. These are often discussed as conflicting entities, but that is because their perspectives on purpose, values, and the "language" they use are fundamentally different. However, we believe that new possibilities lie beyond this gap. The "movement of thought" that oscillates between these two extreme viewpoints, integrating them, is the core of our design engineering. Members with diverse expertise share this perspective, weaving together sensibility and technology.