Wall panels inspired by Filipino grilled street food. A town hall of peace in healing Maguindanao. A safe space for queer people in the form of a zine.
These winning works at the recently concluded Good Design Awards by the Design Center of the Philippines embody ‘malasakit,’ the Filipino value of compassionate care. ‘Malasakit’ is also the added criterion for judging good design that turns everyday spaces and objects into meaningful ones.
From 311 entries from across the regions, 246 passed validation, and 84 were shortlisted.
A final jury from the Design Advisory Council, the Good Design Award Japan (G Mark), and the United Nations Development Programme made the final selections last May.
At the awarding ceremony, Design Center of the Philippines executive director Maria Rita O. Matute said, ‘Filipino designers have a higher obligation beyond making things beautiful. Malasakit is not a sentiment; it is a design standard. It asks: who is this for, what problem does it solve, and what does the world look like after this design exists? The works we honor tonight answered that question with conviction.’
The 2026 Awardees
Bagging the Malasakit Award-the grand prize of the Good Design Award Philippines-is Banwag, designed by Studio Impossible Project, co-founded by Enrico Atienza and Jasper Niens. The bamboo structure also won the Gold Award, under the Place Making category.
Banwag, a 15-meter bamboo fabric dome-shaped structure in Parang, Maguindanao, means ‘beacon’ in Visaya. It was conceived as a shared space for peace where three communities with a long history of conflict-Muslim, Christian, and Lumad-can have a meeting of minds and hearts.
According to Atienza, co-founder of Studio Impossible Project, Banwag is likewise an homage to native materials and the ingenuity of the Filipino artisan.
‘To earn recognition, especially for a passion project, is really special to us. It is also honoring the bamboo technology in the Philippines that we aim to elevate. The award also honors Philippine indigenous materials. Our technical disobedience as Filipinos-that’s where we stand out, and that’s how we can build structures like the Banwag,’ said Atienza.
Meanwhile, under the Image Making Category, the Gold Award was presented to ‘Ding! Zine para sa Bading,’ designed by the students of CIIT College of Arts and Technology as part of their school research project. The zine traces the evolution of Filipino drag, safe spaces, and queer power.
According to Jouzen Peramo, layout and editor-in-chief of the zine: ‘The recognition is not just for us but for the queer community. It’s a super big thing that we won this award because we can further amplify more queer voices that need to be heard, more queer stories that need to be known.’
A total of 22 Red Awards were given across the different categories.
The awardees under Image Making were: ‘QC Stories: The City We Call Home’ by Do Good Studio; ‘Forgotten by The Tribe,’ by GGC Group Asia; ‘Nexus: A Filipino Architecture as a Network in Constant Remaking’ by Bien Alvarez; ‘Haring Ibon’ Playing Cards by Birds in Focus, Inc.; ‘Pista ng Kapuluan: Archipelago Festival and Biennale’ by Tukod Foundation; ‘Salumpuwit: Chairs in Filipino Life’ by Arc Lico International Services Corp. and Facade Books; and ‘Request sa Radyo’ set design by Theatre Group Asia and Ayala Land.
Under Object Making, Ihawi by Selena Placino are wall panels or dividers made from pineapple leaf waste turned into hibla felt. Inspired by ‘ihawan,’ the act of turning skewered food over the grill, the felt fabric appears to be pierced in wood and can be adjusted to how open or enclosed the space could be.
‘To win the Red Award early in my career means a lot. It’s an honor to be surrounded by the best. It affirms my goal as a designer to create meaningful objects that celebrate being a Filipino and my purpose in life as well.’
Other winners in the Object Making category are Hiblatech Ventures, Inc.; Make-a: Pusô DIY Kit by White Brick Creative Studio Corp.; Kai’a Outdoor Hanging Lamp by Chini Lichangco; Champion Detergent Table Clothes by TBWA Santiago Mangada Puno; Celestina Rugs by Hacienda Crafts; and Curio by Kenneth Cobonpue.
Under Place Making: andMatcha Three Yards by MLA-at-Home; Pasig River Urban Development by WTA Architecture and Design Studio; Mamanwa Community Center by Kaiserslautern University of Applied Sciences, Mamanwa Community, Kawayan Collective and Project Partners; Alhibe: A Regenerative Placemaking anchored by Bamboo Architecture by M+S Studio Co. Ltd.; Comuna by Jumnie Ramana Developers, Inc.; Urban Forestry Institute Diliman by Karl Castro and Mede Studio / KaLIKHAsan: Outdoor Projects on Campus Ecology; and Atok Barnhouse by Ninety Design Studio.
Under Systems and Service Design: Zero Waste Textile Circular Solution by ANTHILL Fabric Gallery, Inc.; and Oyloop by Klimatech Innovative Solutions, Inc.
Three special recognitions were also conferred:
The Green Award was received by the Mamanwa Community Center, a climate-adapted design, renewable materials, and in collaboration with the Mamanwa community.
The White Citation was awarded to KADLIT (Kindling Aid for Disaster-Linked Ignition Tool), designed by Bohol Island State University, for transforming rice bran into a disaster-ready firestarter for emergency preparedness.
The Blue Citation, a new addition introduced this year under the Governance and Civic Design category, was conferred on the Quezon City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office for iRISE UP, a system geared for disaster preparedness to support more resilient communities.
As part of the partnership between the Design Center of the Philippines and the Japan Institute of Design Promotion, winning designs from GDA Philippines automatically advance past the first screening for Japan’s Good Design Award or G Mark, one of the world’s most respected design recognition programs.
The GDA Philippines awardees advance to the final deliberation for G Mark in August 2026. So far, 21 designs from the Philippines have been conferred the G Mark since the Good Design Awards of the Philippines were launched in 2019, Proof that Philippine design can stand out in the global design sector.