Winners of the 2026 Kokuyo Design Awards
8 hours ago
- #stationery design
- #innovation
- #sustainability
- The Kokuyo Design Awards, Japan's prestigious stationery design competition, has been running for nearly 25 years, hosted by KOKUYO and receiving about 1500 entries annually for non-commercialized products, with winners having the chance to be produced.
- This year's theme 'hamon: design that resonates' encouraged designers to submit concepts based on personal experiences that could resonate with society, resulting in one Grand Prix and three merit awards announced last month.
- Grand Prix winner 'Before Note' by Hiroki Kannari is a customizable 'pre-notebook' bundle that users can personalize with sheet numbers and cover designs, bridging mass production and personalization.
- Merit award 'Gram' by Takashi Higashide is a pen series exploring weight adjustments to subtly alter the writing experience, making users more aware of tactile sensations.
- Merit award 'Notebooks Identified by Edges' by Yuji Tsukamoto features plain white covers with colored edges for easy identification, balancing organization, aesthetics, and sustainability by reducing ink usage.
- Merit award 'Gradience Diary' by Mizuki Igarashi & Rara Takizawa replaces rigid boxes with soft gradients in planners, allowing flexible writing space that reflects the fluidity of time.
- Finalists include innovative designs like 'Red and White Packing Paper' for decorative gift wrapping, 'AWAI' pen for ambiguous lines, 'OVERLAP' notebook for creative thinking, 'KASUMIORI' reading guide for a mist-inspired experience, and 'a glimmer of inspiration' pen for recording ideas.