“The winners of the Dutch Design Awards 2021 mark a new impetus for the design world with a lot of innovation and the power to change. This year's winners underline that designers thrive on change and cross-pollination and radiates hopeful optimism,” says the DDA2021 jury.

The award is one of the central events of Dutch Design Week, Northern Europe's most important design festival and an occasion that every year proves to be a relevant and significant stimulus for contemporary debate.

“There is so much happening in the world. We need the perspective and enthusiasm of designers more than ever. We see them sink their teeth into a broad range of issues we face, putting the public interest first. Whether it concerns the carbon problem, housing shortage, mobility or social issues related to inclusiveness, designers are the trailblazers to chart a new course. A course that leads us to a sustainable, more social and more just future,” declared Martijn Paulen, CEO of Dutch Design Foundation. 

The impact on people, nature and society are the criteria through which the participants were judged. Divided into eight categories, they fully demonstrate the variety of approaches, languages and visions that only Dutch design can offer in recent years.

The awards range from the territorial scale, as in the case of the Marker Wadden project (Habitat category), to that of the object, such as those designed by Audry Large, awarded in the Young Designer category. The first project is a new nature reserve developed in an innovative way with nature and for nature; Large plays with the boundaries between the digital and the physical, using techniques from the world of animation and 3D software to create new objects and images.

The Dutch Design Awards 2021 prizewinners include digital platforms, recycled materials, social projects, communication campaigns... not just objects, but above all processes that interpret the contemporary world and aim to change it radically.