Prize Designs for Modern Furniture + Lighting 2026
The Global Design Awards for New Furniture + Lighting
New Chairs, Seating, Tables, Desks, Wall and Ceiling Partitions, Fabrics/Textiles, Wall and Floorcovering, Urban Furniture, and Indoor and Outdoor Lighting
Deadline for Submissions:
April 6th, 2026
In 1949, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) organized the “Prize Designs for Modern Furniture” to encourage the best of contemporary design by exhibiting the most notable examples in the furniture industry thereby stimulating production by manufacturers for the mass-produced market.
Seven decades later, Global Design News and The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design are relaunching this historic event.
Curated by Edgar Kaufmann, Jr., Prize Designs for Modern Furniture opened in 1950 at MoMA in New York.
The idea of the competition was to draw the attention of technicians and designers from all over the world to produce new and fresh ideas leading to the manufacture and wide distribution of a new type of furniture for today’s new homes.
Athens, Greece
The Program 2026
For 2026, Prize Designs for Modern Furniture + Lighting presents a unique opportunity to present new furniture, lighting, and materials to the world’s architects, corporate end-users, furniture specifiers, and the general public.
The new, reformatted program showcases the best and the most outstanding new examples of furniture and lighting created by some of the most renowned international designers and architects and produced and marketed by the best and most innovative manufacturers worldwide.
Thanks to its global reach and highly reputable jury, the winners of the annual Global Design News Prize Designs can be considered as the definitive list of the world’s best furniture, lighting, and fabric/textile products.
Winner’s Pack 2026
• Winning submissions receive the Prize Design Award Certificates and Prize Design Award Trophy
• Winning Prize Designs are given a signet (digital) for product communications
• Exclusive coverage in the online platform Global Design News
• Global Design News Newsletter of all awarded winners
• Coverage on the Global Design News social media channels (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn)
• Winning designs are entered into the Permanent Design Collection of The Chicago Athenaeum
• Book publication of all award winners in “New Modern Furniture + Lighting“
• Exhibition of awarded products at Contemporary Space Athens as well as the possibility of traveling inside Europe
• Winning designers and manufacturers may use the Prize Design Logo for marketing, merchandising, and promotional use through an exclusive license with Metropolitan Arts Press Ltd
Evaluation Criteria and Judging
The awarded products are selected by a jury organized by Global Design News and The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design. The jury deliberately uses subjective and aesthetic criteria in its selection. First and foremost, Global Design News and The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design see the award-winning products as having an influence on design development in the present or near future.
The 2026 Jury
Alain Gilles
Signature product & furniture Designer – Alain Gilles Studio
Born in 1970 in Brussels, Belgium. Design as a second life. After studying Political Sciences and Marketing Management, Alain Gilles went on to work in the financial world. But one has to live his own life. So, thanks to the moral support of his wife, he went back to studying Industrial design in France.
He opened his own studio in 2007 in order to pursue his own dreams and develop his personal approach to product design, furniture design, art direction and interior architecture. He has been a jury member or president for many design awards—and has also won multiple design awards. He collaborates with international editors such as Ligne Roset (FR), Bonaldo (IT), Buzzispace (BE), Varaschin (IT), Casamania (IT), Zee (BE), Greenmood (BE), XL Boom (BE), La Chance (FR), Vincent Sheppard (BE), Modular (BE), Another Country (UK), Miniforms (IT), Saba Italia (IT), and more.
Filippo Mambretti
Designer & Lecturer – Filippo Mambretti Design Studio
Filippo Mambretti, an Italian designer born in Como, embodies artisanal culture and modern design thinking. Growing up immersed with his grandparents—master wood and sculpture craftsmen—he cultivated profound sensitivity to materials, meticulous construction details, and the enduring value of handmade craftsmanship. A formative meeting with Bruno Munari during artistic studies inspired his academic pursuit at Politecnico di Milano, where he earned degrees in Interior Design and Furniture Design.
His professional scope includes product design, lighting, furniture, and design research, with enduring collaborations alongside Italian and international companies and institutions. His work employs an essential, contemporary language rooted in function, harmoniously integrating aesthetics, technical innovation, and deep design culture in a coherent, rigorous manner.
Beyond practice, he teaches as a lecturer and trainer at CSIA and SSS_AA, mentoring future designers. Leading his Switzerland-based studio, he engages European and global partners—brands, artisans, architectural studios, and manufacturers—prioritizing quality, bold experimentation, and sustainability.
Jan Goderis
Interior Architect& Designer – Jan Goderis Design Lab
Jan Goderis, a Belgium-based designer, blends architecture, interior design, furniture, lighting, and objects into a thoughtful language balancing material, craftsmanship, and technology. Driven by lifelong passion, he founded Jan Goderis Design Lab in 2021 for distinctive projects. Over 35 years, his conceptual clarity and refined craftsmanship have produced precise, emotionally engaging work across private residences, public spaces, and cultural restorations—like the Godfried heritage warehouse renovation in Antwerp for Dries Van Noten’s offices with DMT Architects.
Now focused on timeless furniture, lighting, and objects emphasizing form, function, and clarity, Jan prioritizes ecological respect for materials, tradition, and sustainability.
His designs have earned numerous prestigious international design awards. Jan contributes to the global design community as a jury member and was named among the world’s leading designers for 2025 by the Designers Accreditation Council (DAC).
Katia Kolovea
Lighting Designer & Creative Director – ARCHIFOS Studio
Katia Kolovea is a lighting designer, creative director, and advocate for the profession, rooted in interior and product design. She views lighting as a spatial and experiential medium bridging objects, environments, and narratives.
As founder and creative director of ARCHIFOS—a London-based boutique agency launched in 2020—she blends communication, marketing, and lighting design. ARCHIFOS partners internationally with lighting businesses on bespoke projects merging strategic storytelling and light’s power, including brand strategy, experiential marketing, content, product launches, events, immersive experiences, and light art installations to shape identities and build audience trust.
Her work covers architectural lighting, events, public art, and brand activations across 16 countries and four continents. She is widely recognized with many distinctions and she’s a frequent speaker on lighting, art, and strategy.
Katia founded The Lighting Police, co-founded Silhouette Awards and VLD.community, and supports Women in Lighting, championing mentorship and advancement.
Stefano Borella
Industrial Designer – Studio Atelier Borella
Stefano Borella is an industrial designer with solid expertise in product design,
research and concept development, as well as technical design and development.
With more than 30 years of experience in industrial design, Borella has honed his
ability to translate ideas and concepts into concrete designs. He transforms
innovative ideas into tangible realities, creating products that harmoniously combine
form and function. He works on projects that challenge convention, delivering
creative and innovative solutions with a strong focus on sustainability.
Among his most important collaborations are those with Louis Vuitton in Paris, B&B
Italia Spa, Cassina Spa, Calligaris Spa, Quadrifoglio Group Spa, Quinti, and Nahu of
the Lineafabbrica Group, as well as with many renowned architectural firms for
custom projects, including Studio Wilmotte in Paris, Studio Chipperfield in London,
and Paolo Castelli in Bologna.
Some of his projects have earned prestigious international awards, including the
Good Design Award and the Prize Design for Modern Furniture + Lighting.
Taras Yoom
Artist & Designer – The Yoomoota Universe
Taras Yoom is a Bangkok-based, award-winning artist and former medical professional, recipient of the Good Design Award and other international honors. His works grace permanent collections at many museums, among them The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design.
Inspired by Leonardo da Vinci and contemporary scientific thought, Yoom crafts biomorphic surrealism—fusing natural forms, inner body structures, and animation into fantastical planets and inhabitants that probe the vast intricacies of human existence, universal emotions, obsessions, modern civilization’s flaws, and socially resonant themes. His immersive Yoomoota universe—a parallel realm blurring visible reality with life’s hidden processes—spans sculptures, paintings, furniture, lighting, and mixed-media, reinterpreting plastic, silicone, acrylic, and wood with surgical precision and exceptional craftsmanship.
Exhibited internationally at PAD Paris, PAD London, Art Busan, Art Miami, Zurich, Seoul, and New York, his art has garnered acclaim in Financial Times, Harper’s Bazaar, Design Milk, Robb Report, Elle Decoration, and GQ.
Publications, Exhibitions, Official Ceremony
CATALOGUE: “New Modern Furniture + Lighting”
Winning entries for The Prize Designs for Modern Furniture + Lighting published by Global Design News and Metropolitan Arts Press Ltd.
EXHIBITION EUROPE
The European Centre/ Contemporary Space Athens, Greece
GALA & FORMAL PRESENTATION
Athens, Greece
Award Categories
The two major categories and the corresponding subcategories are as follows:
Furniture
| 1. Seating | 8. Tables |
| 2. Chairs | 9. Wall and Ceiling Partitions |
| 3. Office Chairs | 10. Built-in-Furniture |
| 4. Office/Home Desks | 11. Fabric/ Textile |
| 5. Office Pods | 12. Floor and Wallcovering |
| 6. Storage | 13. Urban Furniture |
| 7. Closets |
Lighting
| 1. Table Lighting | 4. Floor Lighting |
| 2. Ceiling Lighting | 5. Outdoor Lighting |
| 3. Wall Lighting |
How to apply
Please fill out postal or online applications, noting the following:
• One submission must be completed for each project.
• Images should be in high-resolution (300 dpi, 1920×1080, up to 6Mb each), and of .jpg / .jpeg / .png format.
• Project descriptions should not exceed 500 words.
• For online applications, after completing the registration and submission process for your project a form summary of your application will be sent to your email.
• For postal applications, images and project descriptions of each project can be sent either through WeTransfer or Dropbox (or any other similar platform) along with a fully completed form at contact@globaldesignnews.com.
• Entry Fee: 295$ per submitted project. After we receive the filled-out form and check all materials an invoice will be sent to your email.
• Please provide the bank transfer receipt with your payment together with all other materials of your application.
If you need any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us.
IMPORTANT: The information provided here MUST be accurate as it will form the basis for any future publication as well as the web presentation that will become part of the exhibition.
If you are entering this information on behalf of the designer OR manufacturer, the information must be correct.
Please take time to ensure that this is the case, as changes/corrections in the submitted information may incur costs, should any changes be needed during the publication process.
Application form 2026
![Prize Designs for Modern Furniture International Competition for Low-Cost Furniture Design]. New York- Museum of Modern Art, 1950. TCA Archives.](http://globaldesignnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/GDN_Prizedesignforfurniture-2022-1.jpg)
New York, Museum of Modern Art, 1950. The Chicago Athenaeum Archives.
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Contact Us
For more information contact the Global Design News team at contact@globaldesignnews.com
Prize Designs for Modern Furniture + Lighting® is a registered trademark of Metropolitan Arts Press Ltd.
copyright © 2026 all rights reserved.
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