DFA awards 2022 announce asia's most influential design winners

DFA AWARDs announce the three trailblazer winners

‘Design may help humanity solve problems, foster social change, and help us appreciate the beauty of life,’ says Prof. Eric Yim, Chairman of Hong Kong Design Centre. The non-governmental Asian organization announces the winners of its DFA Award Platform, showing proof of its mission to promote a wider and strategic use of design and design thinking. In year 2022, on the platform’s 20th Anniversary, DFA highlights three trailblazers with distinguished philosophies that reveal the art of design, culture, and fashion, epitomizing the contribution of influential design in Asia and around the world. Among them are Katsumi Asaba, Founder of Katsumi ASABA Design Studio; Muneaki Masuda, President and CEO of Culture Convenience Club Co., Ltd; and Guo Pei, Founder of Rose Studio.

(above) Magnificent Gold Gown by Guo Pei | image courtesy of Asian Civilizations Museum

(banner) Tsutaya Books in Ginza by Muneaki Masuda

all images courtesy of Hong Kong Design Centre

katsumi asaba, muneaki masuda, and guo pei receive their awards

DFA Awards is a stage, which underpins the role of designers in society while celebrating design leadership through the following categories: Lifetime Achievement Award (DFA LAA); Design Leadership Award (DFA DLA); and World’s Outstanding Chinese Designer (DFA WOCD). Apart from these divisions, DFA Awards also presents DFA Design for Asia Awards (DFA DFAA), which aims to recognize projects in Asia that epitomize design excellence and contribute to the betterment of society and the design industry.

Through the influential world renowned categories mentioned above, the DFA Awards 2022 announce the results. Among them are Katsumi Asaba, winner of DFA Lifetime Achievement Award (DFA LAA); Muneaki Masuda, winner of DFA Design Leadership Award (DFA DLA); and Guo Pei, winner of DFA World’s Outstanding Chinese Designer (DFA WOCD).

Poster ‘BAUHAUS’, 2015 by Katsumi Asaba | photo by Katsumi Asaba Design Studio

Katsumi Asaba – Founder, Katsumi ASABA Design Studio, winner of DFA Lifetime Achievement Award (DFA LAA)

Katsumi Asaba is a Japanese designer born in 1940. His passion and interest towards the rich history behind Asian writing and visual expression lead him to become the Founder of Katsumi ASABA Design Studio, through which he achieved a lasting mark in the history of Japanese advertising design. DFA LAA 2022 sees his achievements as a legendary designer in various fields.

Exhibition ‘Typography In Asia’, 1990 | photo by Katsumi Asaba Design Studio

Tsutaya Books in Ginza by Muneaki Masuda

Muneaki Masuda, President and CEO of Culture Convenience Club Co., Ltd, was born in 1951 in Osaka, Japan. With eyes set on the record for the world’s largest art bookstore, Masuda has committed himself to planning shared lounges that facilitate the exchange of ideas between individuals through cozy spaces, book recommendations and office functionality. DFA DLA 2022 recognizes the designer’s outstanding leadership in leading not only his ‘culture infrastructure’ company, but also new design trends of public spaces and cultural facilities.

Muneaki Masuda – President and CEO Culture Convenience Club Co., Ltd. has been recognized for his outstanding new design ideas of cultural spaces and has been crowned the winner of the DFA Design Leadership Award (DFA DLA)

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Exhibition ‘Guo Pei: Couture Fantasy’, Legion of Honor Museum, 2022 | photo by Gary Sexton ©Kitsune Kreations

Guo Pei, Founder of Rose Studio, has devoted herself to conserving while innovating the art of embroidery, and led her team to successfully restore the nearly lost royal embroidery technique. The Chinese designer combines traditional Chinese techniques and avant-garde silhouettes while creating her couture pieces, while her Studio is actually the first house registered in the Mainland with boutiques around the world. DFA WOCD 2022 praises her contribution to preserving traditional Chinese culture and integrating it with contemporary design.

Guo Pei – Chinese Couture Designer – Rose Studio Founder, winner of DFA World’s Outstanding Chinese Designer (DFA WOCD).

195 DFA winners underpin the role of designers in society

There is a total of 195 winners from DFA Design for Asia Awards including nine Grand awards, 21 Gold awards and 165 Silver, Bronze and Merit awards’ winners. Companies from the Mainland again tops the leaderboard with 65 winning projects, followed by Hong Kong and Japan claiming 49 and 44 winning projects respectively.

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DFA DFAA Grand Award: Yuandang Bridge by BAU Brearley Architects+Urbanists | SIDRI | T&D

Yuandang Bridge by Architects+Urbanists | SIDRI | T&D , involves the construction of a snaking bridge, connecting two sections of the wetland of Shanghai Yuan Dung Lake. The 600-meter structure is designed to incorporate pedestrian and bicycle passengers across the water while at the same time provide spaces for playing, leisure, and gardening.

DFA DFAA Grand Award: M+ by M Plus Museum Limited

M+ is the first global museum of contemporary visual culture in Asia, made up of a central horizontal podium and a slender tower that merge to form a distinctive upside-down ‘T’ shape. Located in Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District, the project is not just about well-designed exhibition galleries and architectural elements, but for many multipurpose indoor and outdoor spaces of various sizes that offer a range of possibilities for engagement.

DFA DFAA Grand Award: Pingtan Book House by Condition_Lab

Pingtan Book House is located in the Pingtan village of Hunan Province. It preserves the traditional Dong ethnic group’s architectural language, which not only provides a place for local children to play and read in the traditional wooden structure building, but also inspires the local community’s love for reading.

DFA DFAA Grand Award: Music Hall in the Sky by Takuro Yamamoto Architects

Music Hall in the Sky by Takuro Yamamoto Architects is a small classical music concert hall with roughly 50 seats in a Tokyo residential neighborhood. The key design idea is a ‘ribbon window in the sky’ where the designer would like audiences to get away from the busy daily life and immerse into the harmony of the music. The overall form and composition, the angles of the roof and walls, along with the finishing of the concert hall surfaces, have been meticulously tuned to create the best possible sound for the audience.

DFA DFAA Grand Award: Venova (YVS-140) by Yamaha Corporation

The Venova is a wind instrument by Yamaha Corporation. Its branched pipe structure and meandering shape produce a saxophone-like tone from a compact portable form. Made of light, impact-resistant, washable ABS resin, the musical instrument offers a feel and tone that satisfies advanced players, while also helps inexperienced players with its simpler recorder-style finger method. The series also includes soprano and alto versions, thus offering the enjoyment of playing in three registers.

Other Grand Award winners:

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