Asia Young Designer Awards 2019/20 winners revealed

KUALA LUMPUR (July 13): Lin Honghan from China and Greta Elsa Nurtjahja from Indonesia have been picked as the Asia Young Designers of the Year 2019/2020 (AYDA).

Beating other participants across 15 geographical locations, Lin and Greta were in a rigorous selection process to represent their countries for the prestigious title in the Architectural Category and Interior Design Category respectively.

According to AYDA organiser Nippon Paint, this year’s competition marks AYDA's first virtual event in light of Covid-19 restrictions.

Following the virtual competition, both winners walked away with more than US$10,000 (RM42,700) worth of prizes, including the opportunity to attend a fully-funded six-week Design Discovery programme at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

The international competition theme this year was “Forward: A Sustainable Future”, posing a unique challenge to its participants to showcase designs immersed with functional and social sustainability elements. 

The winning design by Nurtjahja embodied the theme with “Rumah Kopi” while Lin complimented the theme well with his design, “Sweet Dream in the Garden” where he incorporated traditional culture with modern design concepts.

“Participants of this year’s virtual competition showed great innovation, strong concepts and social interaction especially during this time of uncertainty… We are proud of the impressive work from designers across the region. Greta Elsa Nurtjahja exceeded expectations in this competition with the level of detail and vision in her design,” said Lea Aziz, one of the judges from the Interior Design category and founder of PT Elenbee Cipta Desain.

Meanwhile, a judge from the Architectural Category, the chairman and senior principal architect of Tange Associates Paul Noritaka Tange comments that the entries this year were interesting and diverse. “Some of the entries were very poetic, historical, and proves that the participants dived deep into researching the environment and how to address different environmental issues.”

"In an effort to break the boundaries of current design concepts, Nippon Paint and AYDA aims to nurture the next generations of architects and interior designers to conceptualise more sustainable designs in their projects that will reduce negative impacts on the environment and eventually improve quality of life.

“Over the past 12 years, the Asia Young Designer Awards stayed true to our commitment to innovation and sustainability. By instilling a deep sense of responsibility and accountability in these young budding designers, we believe that in time, they will contribute to social and environmental advancements in society through their professional achievements. We are proud of the network that we’ve built, connecting industry professionals and talented designers from across the region,” said group CEO of NIPSEA Management Company Pte. Ltd. (Subsidiary of Nippon Paint Holdings Co.) Wee Siew Kim.

AYDA by Nippon Paint will be organising international webinars where professionals from the industry and young designers will bring their knowledge and talents together this August and October. Meanwhile, the theme for 2020's AYDA is Forward: Human-Centred Design.  For more information and to participate in this competition, visit: https://www.asiayoungdesignerawards.com/.

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