Header: Courtesy of SIT Awards
The latest edition of the SIT Furniture Design Award has just announced its 2026 winners. This year, the international judging panel focused on uncovering projects that go far beyond basic craftsmanship, choosing instead to elevate pieces and interiors that alter our fundamental relationship with everyday surroundings.
Spanning everything from a minimalist dining chair crafted from eight distinct pieces to a culinary retail hub built around a vibrant central atrium, this year’s 420 submissions from 46 countries all shared a clear message regarding the ways we sit, socialise and occupy the world around us.
Minimalist reinvention: Ignacio Merino’s Mezza Chair
Taking home the title of Furniture Design of the Year, Ignacio Merino offers a fresh perspective on historical seating with the Mezza Chair. The piece reinterprets an 18th-century Alpine chair style, stripping it down to a surprisingly minimal form.
Measuring a mere 26 cm in depth, the three-legged dining chair uses twin rails to create a floating appearance. Its curved backrest extends directly upward from the front legs, while eight interlocking pieces of beech wood come together at a central T-junction hidden underneath the seat. Built entirely from legally harvested European beech, the chair matches strict structural stability with a light, purposeful form where no component is wasted.
House of Shinsegae by A Work of Substance
The top honour for Interior Design of the Year went to the design studio A Work of Substance for their project, House of Shinsegae. Situated inside the Gangnam flagship location of Shinsegae Inc. in Seoul, South Korea, the space completely breaks away from traditional shop layouts. Designers Maxime Dautresme and Seoyoon K structured the environment to mirror a welcoming home rather than a commercial property. They achieved this by layering the interior with the warmth of solid timber, contrasting elements of brass and high-gloss lacquer, rich jewel-toned fabrics, and a circadian lighting setup that mirrors the natural progression of daylight. Rather than serving as a simple walkway, the central atrium becomes the main social hub. Built around the idea of discovery as a daily ritual, the layout guides visitors through a physical story without adding any unnecessary details.
Allyssa Kim’s Pitta Chair
The award programme also highlights up-and-coming names in the industry, awarding the Emerging Furniture Designer of the Year title to Allyssa Kim. A student at Tokyo’s Musashino Art University, Kim caught the attention of the jury with Pitta, a folding chair that moves past the usual limitations of portable furniture.
While most temporary seating options sacrifice style for utility, Pitta retains a strong visual identity whether it is set up or folded away. The key lies in its U-shaped laminated wood leg, which tucks flat into the main frame to form a clean, sturdy, and memorable silhouette. In this piece, the utility and the appearance are entirely dependent on one another.
Evaluating design with a global vision
An international panel of elite designers, academics, and industry experts evaluated the submissions. The jury featured prominent names, including Josh Owen (President at Josh Owen LLC), Alain Gilles (Founder and Lead Designer at Alain Gilles The Studio), Lilian González-González (representing Anáhuac University of México and the World Design Organization), and Jeremy Myerson (from the Royal College of Art and WORKTECH Academy). They were joined by Richie Moalosi (Director at the University Innovation Pod at the University of Botswana), Sarah Hossli (Founder and Product Designer of Sarah Hossli Product Design), Javier Palomares (Principal at Curve Ahead Design), and Daisuke Nagatomo (Associate Professor at the National Taiwan Normal University’s Department of Design). Together, their shared knowledge across five continents ensured a broad, worldly perspective.
Astrid Hébert, Co-Founder of the SIT Furniture Design Award, shared her view on the entries:
“What strikes me most each year is how different the winners are from one another — and how that difference is exactly the point. Some designs strip everything back until only what matters remains. Others build entire worlds from a single concept. That tension between reduction and abundance, between the handcrafted and the experiential — that’s where furniture and interior design are most alive. SIT exists to find work like this, wherever in the world it comes from.”
The 2026 programme drew impressive entries from a vast range of design fields and regions. Those interested in viewing the complete list of winners and honourable mentions can explore the details at www.sitaward.com.
Rethinking our relationship with objects
The outcomes of this year’s awards highlight a growing shift toward intentionality in design. By taking familiar items like folding chairs or shopping centres and looking at them through a critical lens, these creators prove that utility does not have to be boring. True innovation often happens when we stop trying to decorate a space and instead focus on how people move through it. As these winning projects roll out globally, they challenge the rest of the industry to focus on substance, simplicity, and the quiet ways that physical objects shape our everyday lives.
