Beyond Design Awards
Our field has no shortage of awards. Most come with an entry fee, a jury you have never met and a category that almost fits. So we made another one, with none of that.
Check your awardA word, afterwards
There are a great many design awards. We had entered most of them. So we made one that went beyond. Beyond the categories, beyond the circuit, beyond all reasonable expectation. A prize so complete it should, by rights, have made the others unnecessary.
Nobody applied. Nobody could. The jury decided that for you.
The Evening
No entry fee. Nothing to submit. No portal, no deadline and no invoice. A jury drawn from five studios and brands, a room full of people who make the work, and one evening at Borisov.
Every distinction was written for the person who received it. The jury deliberated on the evening itself, and the categories were announced as they were awarded.
At seven, Remi Versteeg and Stijn de Weerd opened the evening, thanked the partners who made it possible and congratulated the room. The first distinction of the first edition went to Anne van der Zwaag.
What followed was less a ceremony than a long evening with a ceremony running through it. Distinctions appeared on the screen as the jury confirmed them, certificates came off the printer still warm, and the trophies left the building one by one, under arms and under umbrellas, into a steady September rain.
By the end of the night more than a hundred and twenty people had been recognised. As far as we know, that is a record for a first edition.
The Programme
Thirty five of the distinctions handed out that evening, across architecture, interiors, objects, light, sound and everything in between. Each was written for the person who received it, which is why no two read quite alike.
The Night
A few moments from the evening. The full set is on its own page.
Music & Table
From eight, sima k and Lenny Delulu played back to back, on vinyl, for hours. Unhurried, warm, and exactly the right temperature for a room full of people who had just been told they had won something. Later in the evening jury member Stijn de Weerd took over the decks.
And the food. House of Catering, the resident kitchen at Borisov, gave a first taste of the Italian and Lebanese cooking Marco Mercati now makes there. Everything came out of that kitchen on the night, nothing driven in from elsewhere. If you are planning an evening of this kind, he is the one to call.
Our thanks to Borisov for running the room, the bar and the night itself without a single thing going wrong.
Frequently Asked
It was. A real jury, real deliberation, real certificates, and a trophy cut from recycled acoustic felt. What it was not is a business: no entry fee, nothing to submit, and no invoice, before or after.
By the jury, on the evening itself. Each distinction was written for the person who received it, which is why no two citations read quite alike.
Not for 2026. The room was the shortlist, and the room has gone home.
Go to the winners page and type your name. The citation is there in full, and you can download your certificate and a set of images for Instagram and LinkedIn.
Please do. That is rather the point. Your award has its own permanent address, so anyone can look it up, including a client halfway through reading your profile.
We are not the ones to rule on that. It has a jury, a citation, a date, a venue and a public record, which is more than some.
Nothing. Not to be nominated, not to attend, not to win, not to collect. The evening was paid for by six companies who won nothing at all themselves.
Almost certainly, in 2027. Nothing is signed, no room is booked, and the jury has not been asked twice. But the trophies came out rather well.
A jury of nine, deliberating in one evening, occasionally reaches the same person twice. Where the register records two distinctions, both were verified and both stand. One trophy covers them.
You can. Send a note to hello@beyonddesignawards.com, though that inbox is read at a leisurely pace, so it is quicker to reach us through Beyond Space. The felt keeps well.
You cannot apply, and that has not changed. You can leave your details below, and the jury has been known to take a hint.
sima k and Lenny Delulu, back to back on vinyl from eight, and jury member Stijn de Weerd later in the evening. Yes, it was as good as you remember.
House of Catering, the resident kitchen at Borisov, with Marco Mercati cooking. Italian and Lebanese, all of it made on the premises.
Beyond Space, with Impact Acoustic, Boring Collection, Modular, Pastoe and Jupiter Spaces, hosted at Borisov on the Rigakade in Amsterdam.
The Second Edition
The Beyond Design Awards return to Amsterdam in 2027. Leave your details and you will hear it here first, before the invitations go out.
In Partnership With
The evening was carried by six companies who asked for nothing in return but were thanked at length anyway.
Impact Acoustic
Acoustic solutions from recycled PET. The trophies were cut from their felt.
Boring Collection
Office furniture, entirely grey, and comfortable with that.
Modular Lighting Instruments
Architectural lighting, made in Belgium.
Pastoe
Dutch cabinetmaking since 1913.
Jupiter Spaces
Bringing design brands to the people who specify them.
Borisov
The bar and event space on the Rigakade that hosted the evening.
The Jury
Nine people agreed to judge, read every entry on the night, and signed every certificate. Our thanks to all of them.
An initiative by Beyond Space.