Organizer

KOKUYO Co., Ltd.

Location

International (Global)

Deadline

Registration & Submission: July 24, 2026 (Fri) – October 7, 2026 (Wed)

Competition Category

Entries must be stationery, furniture, or tools used in working, learning, and living scenes.

Eligibility

Open to all (global). Submissions must be the original work of the entrant and must not have been made public (in Japan or overseas) before or concurrent to this contest. A separate "NEW GENERATION AWARD" is selected by KOKUYO from all submitted works by students (elementary school to graduate students).

Entry Fee

Free

Core Introduction

The theme for KOKUYO DESIGN AWARD 2027 is "dialogue." This theme focuses on the reciprocal relationships that lie behind excellent design — specifically between "the people who create objects and the users," "the users and the objects," and "the objects and their surrounding environment." When we reexamine the relationships surrounding an object, the creator's care and the user's imagination resonate with one another. Seek out hidden possibilities and fresh insight in the new "maai" — the space between — that emerges from this exchange. Taking "dialogue" as a starting point, the award invites participants to expand the possibilities in how we live, learn, and work.

The judges will focus on three key points: whether the idea is inspired by the entrant's unique perspective; whether the idea engages with a social issue; and whether the idea has potential for real-world production.

The judging panel consists of Shogo Kishino (Art Director and Graphic Designer), Gen Suzuki (Product Designer), Nao Tamura (Designer), Kunihiko Morinaga (ANREALAGE / Designer), Satoshi Yoshiizumi (Founder of TAKT PROJECT Inc. / Designer), and Hidekuni Kuroda (Representative Corporate Officer and President of KOKUYO Co., Ltd.).

The KOKUYO DESIGN AWARD is a long-standing international design competition with past themes including "Embrace," "Unlearning," and others, continuously exploring the relationship between design and society.