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Pin Sharp: Your 2025 Golden Pin Design Award Winners Are…

22 spaces and faces gain acclaim at the Golden Pin Design Award, with Thailand and Singapore as sole Southeast Asian winners

Words and images Golden Pin Design Award
Introduction and editing The Kanto team

Golden Pin
OMA’s Taipei Peforming Arts Theater

The Philippines’ hunt for the elusive Golden Pin Design Award honor continues, but ASEAN held its ground with two wins from Singapore and Thailand in a ceremony that crowned 22 projects (a slight drop from last year’s 32 awardees), dominated by designs from Taiwan, China, and Japan. The Golden Pin Design Award remains one of the most prestigious international design awards, particularly in the huaren (Chinese-speaking) market, celebrating Taiwan’s best since 1981 and expanding globally in 2014. The awards show took place last December 5 at the OMA-penned Taipei Performing Arts Theater in Taipei.

Kilyawan Farm Resort by Dominic Galicia Architects and the KAY Chair by Masaru Kiyota for Exploratory Projects did not take home category wins, but both survived the Golden Pin Design Program’s tough two-stage selection and reached the final round, matching EUDO’s finish for House for a Father last year.

Kilyawan Farm Resort
Dominic Galicia Architects’ Kilyawan Farm Resort
Exploratory Projects’ KAY Chair by Masaru Kiyota
Pok Kobkongsanti of Trop
DP Green

The ASEAN bloc did not leave empty-handed. Singapore’s DP Green won a Special Award for Social Design for Punggol Green: Reimagining an Underutilised Space into Community and Social Spine, which activates the quiet space under a viaduct, transforming it into a green corridor for local use. Thailand’s Trop Company Limited earned a Spatial Design Award for LACY STEPS, a light-touch lattice stair that threads through a nine-meter sunken courtyard and works with the surrounding landscape. We got to talk to Trop principal Pok Kobkongsanti about his win, video soon on @kantocreativecorners.

This year’s honorary award went to acclaimed designer Apex Lin Pang-Soong, Chair Professor at Asia University’s Department of Digital Media Design and Emeritus Professor at National Taiwan Normal University’s Department of Design, in recognition of his long-standing contributions to Taiwanese art, culture, and design research.

The task of selecting this year’s winners fell to 81 jurors from 19 regions across five continents. The roster included Taiwanese graphic designer Liu Kai, Mecanoo’s Francine Houben, Uwe Cremering of iF Design, Babette Strousse of ArtCenter College of Design, and Japanese designer Akira Minagawa of minä perhonen.

Meet your 2025 Golden Pin Design Award and Golden Pin Concept Design Award recipients after the jump, representing 28 countries and regions. Each winning entry is accompanied by a blurb from the jury on its winning qualities.

View the full list of Best Design of the Year winners on the Golden Pin website. See the winning works in person at the 2025 Golden Pin Design Award Exhibition, open until April 26, 2026, at the Taiwan Design Museum in Taipei’s Songshan Cultural and Creative Park.

A hearty gong xi to all the winners!

2025 GPDA Best Design Awards

Active mobility, low-tech lighting, and visual communications centered on shared ecologies describe the bulk of this year’s batch of Best Design recipients

Product Design

OASSAY FlexFlow Water Purifier. Jury comments: Through an intuitive modular design, this system addresses a wide range of outdoor scenarios with both practicality and environmental awareness. From its structure and material choices to its user experience, the product demonstrates precise and thoughtful design at every level.
Aquacendo LightUp Filtered Bottle. Jury comments: By integrating filtration and lighting into a single, modular system, the design responds precisely to the essential needs of resource-limited environments. Its adaptability extends to disaster relief and other critical scenarios, offering a solution that is safe, practical, and deeply rooted in humanitarian concern — a clear demonstration of how design can meaningfully improve lives.
TROXUS. Jury comments: With its one-piece monocoque frame, the design achieves an impressive balance between racing performance and refined styling. Clean, precise, and highly disciplined in form, it exemplifies outstanding road bike engineering and craftsmanship.
Merrylock MK6070 Combo Sewing Machine. Jury comments: From its internal mechanics to its user interface, the design thoughtfully considers ergonomics and workflow efficiency, distilling complex professional techniques into an accessible experience. It demonstrates a deep understanding of user needs and redefines the home sewing experience through considerate, human-centered design.
PXID P6 Tidal Current Electric Moped. Jury comments: By leveraging an electric-assist system to meet the mobility needs of a new generation, this design balances off-road capability with the agility required for urban riding. Its fresh aesthetic and practical functionality broaden the possibilities for e-bike design, offering a compelling new direction for personal mobility.
Sonnenglas® SOMO Solar Lighting System. Jury comments: By combining modular design with solar technology, this compact system delivers safe, clean, and reliable lighting while carrying an unexpected emotional warmth. Beyond its practical functionality, it creates local employment and a sense of hope in resource-limited communities, demonstrating how a small, well-considered design can generate meaningful and far-reaching impact.

Communication Design

Bau-Jie Agarwood Brand Design. Jury comments: The packaging recreates the tactile and atmospheric qualities of nature through molded pulp, achieving a pure and gentle material expression. From design language to material execution and craftsmanship, every element is handled with rare precision and restraint, faithfully reflecting the brand’s spirit of authenticity and purity.
CLEAN CITY GDANSK. Jury comments: Through a concise and compelling visual language, the design conveys the idea of sustainability with striking simplicity. Its symbols transcend language barriers while achieving a rare balance of innovativeness and clarity in communication. With bright colors and memorable icons, the system is both educational and approachable, making its message easy for people of all ages to understand.
ExAvantGarde & NewOldSchool. Jury comments: Breaking away from traditional album formats, this design adopts a medium that responds to shifting listening habits and creates a refreshed sensory experience. From material choices and proportions to its visual language, every detail reflects thoughtful consideration. The result is a compelling translation of the orchestra’s fusion of classical and contemporary styles, allowing the music to be perceived and cherished in a distinctly modern way.
FUJIYA. Jury comments: Through a refined and thoughtful approach, this redesign revitalizes a classic brand identity. By distilling the signature character into a single, powerful symbol, it achieves maximum recognition with minimal elements. The result strikes an exceptional balance between nostalgia and modernity, standing out as an exemplary case of brand renewal.
FULL MOON FESTIVAL BY TRADITION NOW. Jury comments: By reinterpreting traditional mythology through a contemporary visual language, the design balances cultural depth with creative expression. It achieves a refined harmony of aesthetics, technique, and storytelling, resulting in a distinctive and resonant visual identity that meaningfully elevates the brand event.
Minna no Tsukemono. Jury comments: By using the structure of the Chinese character as its core concept, the design cleverly transforms the essential elements of pickling—water and vessels—into a clear visual language. It is precise, self-explanatory, and emotionally resonant, conveying its idea without the need for additional explanation. A compelling example of design that “reveals its meaning through its form.
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind – Taiwan Exclusive Poster Design. Jury comments: With delicate line work and a fresh perspective, the poster brings new life to these beloved characters. Its calm composition holds strong visual tension and symbolic meaning, successfully evoking emotional resonance for audiences familiar with the classic narrative.
Visual Identity for the Taichung Green Museumbrary. Jury comments: With a minimal and precise visual language, this identity conveys the institution’s mission to connect art and knowledge with clarity and grace. From line work to proportion and rhythm, every element is carefully tuned, supported by a well-organized system. The result is a refined visual identity that feels both mature and lasting.

Spatial Design

LACY STEPS. Jury comments: With a refined and minimalist stair composition, the project achieves a precise balance between structure, light, and nature. It creates a spatial experience that feels both fresh and unexpectedly serene, offering a compelling new perspective on architectural aesthetics.
Taichung Green Museumbrary. Jury comments: Grounded in the concepts of openness and spatial fluidity, the project deftly merges the functions of a library and an art museum—blurring boundaries while preserving clarity of purpose. Its understated exterior contrasts with the richness within, presenting a fresh take on contemporary public architecture and suggesting new possibilities for future cultural spaces in the city.
Tenjincho Place. Jury comments: Within a highly constrained urban site, the project still maintains openness, a sense of shared space, and a pleasant spatial experience. Although compact, it creates a surprisingly open feeling. The design is handled with precision and care, showing a clear intention to make the space both practical and refined despite its limitations.
Architecture Museum “Xinyi Street of Coral Stone”. Jury comments: Building upon the integrity of the historic structure, the design boldly and delicately redefines the spatial order, striking a thoughtful balance between past and present. It reveals a poetic interplay of material, scale, and time, allowing the heritage house to regain a quiet, renewed life in a modern setting.

Integration Design

ESSENTIAL. Jury comments: By using cuisine as a medium to link art and design, the project invites audiences to understand ocean issues through taste and sensory experience. From concept to execution, it carries a poetic and thoughtful approach, clearly expressing the creators’ strong passion and conviction.
Formosensis. Jury comments: By reinterpreting the cultural legacy of a century-old railway through design, this project renews the travel experience from carriage details to the journey itself. It draws from nature while embracing sustainability, and despite strict regulations and technical constraints, achieves a holistic transformation rather than a superficial update. A thoughtful and commendable reimagining of heritage rail travel.
HomeWork Circular Living Project. Jury comments: From spatial planning to consumption models, this project embodies zero-waste and reuse principles, while its refined service workflow reflects thoughtful design throughout. By extending these values into community engagement and capacity-building, it lays the groundwork for a growing ecosystem of shared sustainability—promising meaningful impact as the initiative continues to expand.
JinShui 361. META Space. Jury comments: By applying design thinking to repurpose retired assets, the project links corporate transformation, material reuse, and public engagement into concrete actions and a replicable long-term mechanism. It offers a practical and exemplary solution for how an energy company can respond to the demands of sustainability in a clear, scalable, and impactful way.

Special Annual Awards

The Special Annual Awards are given to projects that champion sustainability through design.

MA-TSUO Reading Nook. Jury comments: Grounded in co-creation and hands-on making, the project brings together education, community, and diverse local resources to form a shared space that supports both learning and placemaking. It demonstrates remarkable creativity within limited conditions and shows how design can strengthen community bonds and spark new forms of collective innovation.
Punggol Green. Jury comments: With precise and restrained design, the project transforms an under-bridge void into a lively green corridor that balances ecological restoration with everyday community needs. Its long-term, multi-stakeholder collaboration between government and residents offers an inspiring model for reimagining and regenerating underused urban spaces.
IRON40. Jury comments: With precise modular design and sound engineering logic, the project offers an innovative, reusable packaging solution that significantly reduces waste. It establishes a new benchmark for sustainable industrial packaging and demonstrates how circular thinking can be effectively put into practice.

2025 GPCDA Best Design Awards

The Golden Pin Concept Design Awards recognizes the power of the idea and fetes the work of emerging designers. 27 finalists made the Design Mark cut (2024 had 47 Design Mark recipients), of which 6 advanced to the final stage and the final three receiving a NT$300,000 cash prize.

Kyola Distraction Retractor. Jury comments: Rooted in clinical needs, this concept addresses practical challenges in wisdom tooth surgery with clear attention to function, safety, and user experience. The design demonstrates thoughtful human-centered considerations and shows a promising level of maturity and potential for future application.
REEFS STACKS. Jury comments: By uncovering new ecological potential within abandoned aquaculture structures, this concept explores a thoughtful approach to coral restoration. Its collaboration with academic partners and early feasibility testing demonstrate careful groundwork, suggesting meaningful possibilities for coastal ecological conservation in Taiwan.
Tainan Station Renovation. Jury comments: Addressing the complexities of heritage preservation and urban renewal, this proposal puts forward an integrated vision that considers both historical context and future development. While conceptual, it offers a thoughtful framework that encourages new ways of imagining how the station—and the city around it—might evolve.

View the full list of Best Design of the Year winners on the Golden Pin website. See the winning works in person at the 2025 Golden Pin Design Award Exhibition, open until April 26, 2026, at the Taiwan Design Museum in Taipei’s Songshan Cultural and Creative Park.

A hearty gong xi to all the winners! •

2025 Golden Pin Design Award winners, presentors and jurors

goldenpin.org.tw

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