▲ Top row, from left to right are Francine Houben, Taku Satoh, Lovorika Banovic and Lin Xiao-yi. Bottom row, from left to right are Tnop Wangsillapakun, Liza Chong and Aaron Nieh.
The 2021 Golden Pin Design Award (GPDA), one of the iconic annual design awards in Asia, is now calling for entries, opening up a great opportunity for design talents from across the world to showcase their products and projects that cater to Asian societies globally. Executed by the Taiwan Design Research Institute (TDRI) and organized by the Industrial Development Bureau, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Taiwan, GPDA has gone a long way toward boasting a globally acclaimed signifier of quality in design.
The organizer announced the full list of 98 jurors today (June 23). This year, the organizer invited design experts from various fields and hailing from 14 countries/regions to take part in the preliminary, secondary, and final selections. The jurors include British design genius Tom Dixon, renowned Japanese graphic designer Taku Satoh, founding partner of Dutch architectural firm Mecanoo Francine Houben, famous Thai graphic designer Tnop Wangsillapakun, editor in chief of benchmark Japanese design magazine “AXIS” Katsutoshi Ishibashi, and well-known Taiwanese designers Hsieh Jung-ha, Aaron Nieh, and Lin Xiao-yi. Together, they form a formidable jury and will work together to identify outstanding designs.
Due to the effects of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the call for entries for the 2021 Golden Pin Design Award has been extended until July 15; benefits for early bird registration have been extended to June 30; and additionally, epidemic prevention-related designs will further have the opportunity to register for free. The early bird registration deadline is fast approaching, so take advantage while you can!
The Highlights of 2021 Golden Pin Design Award Jury
Since its transformation into an international award in 2014, GPDA has called for international entries and invited international experts in creative design to serve on the jury each year. This year, the size of this year’s jury is the largest yet, which is made up of experts from 14 different countries and regions: the U.S., Canada, Germany, Japan, the U.K., Italy, Thailand, South Korea, Netherland, Denmark, South Africa, Philippine, Taiwan, and Mainland China. The juror list for the 2021 Golden Pin Design Award and Golden Pin Concept Design Award is particularly eye-catching.
Tom Dixon — Founder of Tom Dixon (U.K.)
The first-time juror Tom Dixon is internationally known for his groundbreaking designs. His personal works as well as those created through his eponymous brand are frequently collected by world-class museums, such as the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and he has even been honored by the British royal family for his design contributions. As such, he is regarded as one of the most representative figures of contemporary British industrial design. This time, he has cordially agreed to serve on the jury for the final selection of the Golden Pin Design Award and Golden Pin Concept Design Award, so the innovative designs that catch his eye will be worth keeping an eye on.
Taku Satoh — Chairman of TSDO Inc. (Japan)
Japanese graphic design master Taku Satoh has created numerous outstanding works in various fields, ranging from corporate identity to product design. Satoh’s work includes: product development (Nikka Whiskey Pure Malt), packaging design (LOTTE XYLITOL Gum, Meiji Oishii gyunyu), graphic design (PLEATS PLEASE ISSEY MIYAKE), logo design (21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa; National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo; Japanese High School Baseball Championship). A winner of multiple awards, he is highly regarded in his industry, and will look to provide his unique insights when he serves as a juror in the final selection of the two awards mentioned above.
Francine Houben — Founding Partner of Mecanoo International B.V. (Netherland)
Fellow final selection juror Dutch architect Francine Houben is the founding partner and creative director of Mecanoo, a world-renowned and multinational architectural firm. Her work ranges from theatres, museums and libraries to neighborhoods, housing and parks. Each design is founded on observation of people, location, culture and climate. She has received international acclaim for her architectural designs, which include Delft University of Technology Library, Delft (1997), La Llotja Theatre and Congress Centre, Lleida, Spain (2008), Library of Birmingham, U.K. (2013), Bruce C. Bolling Municipal Building, Boston, U.S. (2015) and National Kaohsiung Center for the Arts, Taiwan (opened in 2018).
Tnop Wangsillapakun — Founder of TNOP DESIGN (Thailand)
Thai graphic designer Tnop Wangsillapakun, who will serve as a juror for the secondary selection of the Golden Pin Design Award’s Communication Design category, is active in Asian design circles as not only a winner of numerous awards, but as the deputy director-general of the Thailand Graphic Designers Association as well as a member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale. He has also taught at several Thai universities, including Chulalongkorn University and Rangsit University.
Meanwhile, a special effort was made this year to include on the panel of jurors creators from well-known design brands, international design organizations and from interdisciplinary fields, including Lovorika Banovic, head of product design of Flying Tiger Copenhaagen; Katsutoshi Ishibashi, editor in chief of benchmark Japanese design magazine “AXIS”; Leslie Sun, editor in chief of “VOGUE TAIWAN”; Johnason Lo, the founder of JL DESIGN; Liza Chong, CEO of Danish design promotion organization The Index Project; and Eunjoo Maing, executive managing director of the Korea Institute of Design Promotion (KIDP), so as to provide more diversified perspectives during the selection process.
2021 GOLDEN PIN DESIGN AWARD JURY
2021 GOLDEN PIN CONCEPT DESIGN AWARD JURY
Call for Entries Extended to Mid-July; Epidemic Prevention-Related Designs Will Have the Opportunity to Register for Free
The entire world has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, the Golden Pin Design Award offered free registration for designs related to epidemic prevention so as to promote epidemic prevention awareness, in hopes of bringing in excellent designs that could bring effective and transformational changes to the world. As the global epidemic situation still remains grim to this day, the 2021 Golden Pin Design Award will continue to encourage designs related to epidemic prevention, in that those who apply in writing and are determined by the organizer as meeting qualifications will get the opportunity to register for free. For more details: https://www.goldenpin.org.tw/en/202010609/
The 2021 Golden Pin Design Award is currently calling for entries. Entries for the Golden Pin Design Award must be completed, commercialized products or completed projects, and entrants would be vendors or design teams. The call for entries will end on July 15th (Thu.) at 17:00 and the early bird registration end on June 30 (Wed.) (GMT+8 Taipei). Welcoming designers all around the globe, this is an unprecedented opportunity to prove their prowess in creative design!
