AIDA
The Space Between

The idea behind the collaboration

Peggy Lui, founder of Sky Design Awards and editor-in-chief of Merci Magazine, developed the project through discussions with Daisuke Hironaka, CEO of Stellar Works. Both recognised that interior and spatial designers offer valuable perspectives on furniture design, and that connecting these professionals with industry expertise would create new opportunities for collaboration.

Interior designers engage deeply with how people move, gather and inhabit spaces. Furniture offers a way to apply this understanding at the scale of the body, introducing new possibilities for materials, construction and use. Peggy saw an opportunity to connect these designers with industry partners who could help them put their ideas into practice.

Stellar Works’ support and sponsorship provided a practical foundation for the initiative, enabling the development of a furniture prototype. After Masterd received recognition at the Sky Design Awards 2025, Hironaka, who also served as an awards judge, selected the studio for the collaboration. Futoshi Masuda’s AIDA concept brings his spatial approach into dialogue with the company’s engineering and manufacturing expertise.

This initiative establishes a practical pathway from interior design into new forms of collaboration. Through prototype development, designers engage with a wider range of specialists and explore how their concepts can be realised with manufacturers, institutions and project partners. AIDA embodies this ambition.

The people behind the collaboration

Futoshi Masuda & Masterd

Founded in Tokyo in 2016 by Futoshi Masuda, Masterd works with the materials and techniques through which Japanese culture takes physical form. Masuda graduated from Osaka University of Arts in 2004 and gained experience at a major interior design and construction firm and an interior design studio before establishing his own practice.

The studio explores how natural materials embody the history of a place, reflect craftsmanship and evolve over time. Since completing TACUBO SHIROKANEDAI in 2024, Masuda has placed greater emphasis on incorporating earth and other natural materials into his projects. For Masterd, interior design involves bringing these traditions into contemporary contexts, allowing spaces to gain character through use.

AIDA carries this philosophy forward, exploring the nuanced ways individuals relate to furniture. Its design leaves room for different postures and activities, from sitting and leaning to pausing and observing.

AIDA: an open boundary

In his concept for AIDA, Masuda draws on a Japanese appreciation of shadow, ambiguity and the interval known as ma. He refers to Jun’ichirō Tanizaki’s In Praise of Shadows as a point of departure, considering how an object can be perceived through the shadow and presence it leaves within a space.

The frame forms an open circle, uniting the functions of arm, back and structure in a single gesture to create a gentle boundary around the sitter. This openness is central to the concept, as the chair supports the sitter while preserving a connection to the surrounding space.

Masuda sees AIDA as an invitation to movement and reflection, allowing each person to settle into a posture that suits the moment or activity. The chair’s rounded upholstered seat and slender outline balance a substantial place to sit with a sense of openness, complementing the surrounding interior without imposing on it.

Stellar Works: from spatial vision to furniture

Stellar Works unites Japanese sensibility, an international design culture and an integrated manufacturing base in Shanghai. Its distinctive strength comes from the close connection between these elements: designers collaborate directly with in-house technical and manufacturing teams, allowing the essential character of an idea to guide production decisions.

The company combines skilled handcraft with modern production technology across timber, metal, upholstery and surface finishing. Bringing these capabilities together allows the team to develop a piece as a whole, with its structure, proportions, tactile qualities and finishes considered in relation to one another. Materials and construction are refined to balance comfort, durability and production cost while preserving the details that give a design its identity.

This expertise supports three ways of working. Established collections offer resolved designs that can be specified for different interiors. Customisation allows upholstery, finishes, dimensions or configurations to be adapted, subject to technical review. Bespoke development starts with a project’s drawings and material requirements, then moves through engineering, samples and prototypes to production. Interior designers can therefore work with Stellar Works at different scales, from adapting an existing piece to developing furniture particular to a space.

Stellar Works develops furniture with designers including Neri&Hu, Space Copenhagen, Yabu Pushelberg, Keiji Ashizawa Design and Alessandro Munge. These collaborations bring different approaches to proportion, materials and spatial experience into a manufacturing framework that supports both established collections and bespoke development.

That breadth is evident across projects in different cities. At The Paramount Club in New York, established collections sit alongside bespoke pieces to support work, dining and social life. Raffles Sentosa Singapore demonstrates the company’s capabilities across bespoke case goods, millwork and upholstered seating. At Sakura Bar in Osaka, the Bund collection by Neri&Hu and Marea by Alessandro Munge contribute distinct characters to an intimate hospitality setting. Together, these projects show how Stellar Works can respond to a designer’s individual perspective and the practical requirements of a particular interior.

For AIDA, this makes Stellar Works a partner in translating Masuda’s spatial thinking into furniture. The open frame and rounded seat establish the design’s character; engineering must resolve how they connect, support the body and retain their proportions. Direct dialogue with the people responsible for making helps refine those decisions through samples and prototypes, keeping the original intention present as the design develops.

From intent to prototype

The collaboration is organised around five stages, set out in the Stellar Works booklet. Each stage focuses on a different question, from what to preserve in the design to how to review the resulting prototype.

Where the collaboration could lead

AIDA’s potential lies in carrying a way of thinking about interiors into an object that can enter different spaces. A residential sitting area, a hotel lounge or a setting for conversation could each offer a different context for its open form. These are possible directions for the design, with suitability to be established through development and testing.

The broader opportunity is to open further collaborations for designers whose principal work is in interiors and spaces. Working with a manufacturer introduces new specialists, methods and production knowledge, while partnerships with other organisations could create further settings in which to develop and apply that expertise. AIDA provides a practical example of this exchange. Any future collection or project application would depend on the outcome of the development work.

For Merci, the collaboration connects design, art, people and cities through a concrete act of making. Masuda’s attention to shadow and interval gives the chair its cultural and sculptural vocabulary. Engineering brings that vocabulary into contact with the body and everyday use. The connection between Tokyo’s design practice and Shanghai’s manufacturing expertise opens a route for a local sensibility to find a place in interiors elsewhere.

Recognition, carried forward

Initiated by Peggy Lui through Sky Design Awards and Merci Magazine, and made possible by Stellar Works’ support and sponsorship, the collaboration gives Masterd a setting in which to develop its spatial thinking through furniture. Its wider purpose is to create more opportunities for designers to work across disciplines and with new partners, building practical experience through the process of making.