From August 24 to September 30, in the very center of Riga, on the Esplanade park (on the side of Elizabetes Street), an open-air exhibition “The National Design Award of Latvia 2023 Winners” can be viewed, where a wide audience - Riga residents and guests - can see the works of nineteen winners and finalists of the competition.
The works displayed in the exhibition demonstrate the wide application of design in various industries and areas of life, solving current problems and challenges. For visitors, these examples of outstanding design show the wide range of design possibilities in a clear and simple way. The curator of the National Design Award of Latvia 2023 Winners exhibition is Dita Danosa and graphic design author is Kirils Kirasirovs.
The competition took place from October 10, 2022, to June 2, 2023, when the winners of the competition in five categories — products, services, communication, environment and digital solutions as well as the Grand Prix winner — were announced at the award ceremony at the Splendid Palace cinema. The jury also awarded four special recognitions, and the creative industries communication platform FOLD presented a special award, too.
The Grand Prix award as well as the title for best environmental design went to the exhibition "Weird Sensation Feels Good: The World of ASMR" created by the architecture studio "Eter". The winner of the digital solutions category is the video game "The Case of the Golden Idol" developed by "Color Gray Studio". The visual identity for the youth organization "Young Folks" developed by designer Rūta Jumīte was recognized as the most successful work in the communication design category, meanwhile the Design Studio for Children at the Museum of Decorative Arts and Design won (authors - Education and Accessibility Department of the Latvian National Art Museum in cooperation with designer Lāsma Kondrati and illustrator Kristīne Martinova) were awarded in service design category but the highest award among products went to the military vehicle "VR-1-FOX" , created by designer Eddijs Laksa. The exhibition "Room No. 13" in the ISSP Gallery (authors - Reinis Hofmanis, Aleksejs Beļeckis, Iveta Gabaliņa) received special recognition from the jury for the high-quality small-scale design intervention, the communication campaign for the month of patriots created by Riga municipality was praised for promoting self-esteem and belonging sensation to Latvia (authors - Eva Abdulina, Jānis Klaučs, Dārta Apsīte). Similarly, the jury's appreciation for ethical and sustainable design went to fashion designer Sabīne Skarules and her clothing collection "Vaguely Latvian", while the educational board game "Save the Handwriting" (authors - Līga Rīga Bērziņa, Agrita Rinkeviča, Latvian Art Academy) was highlighted as a design with an educational and social impact.
“Kā starptautiska žūrija mēs šogad kļuvām liecinieki pārsteidzošu ideju, vides un objektu tapšanas un īstenošanas procesam, redzējām, kā caur dizainu tiek pausts lepnums un piederības sajūta savai tautai un valstij. Ļoti novērtēju acīmredzamu tieksmi pēc izcilības, vēlmi rast risinājumus dažādiem jautājumiem, izurbties līdz dziļākajiem cēloņiem un nākt klajā ar jauniem, inovatīviem risinājumiem, vienlaikus saglabājot izpratni par komerciāli izdevīgām iespējām. Šādas iniciatīvas ne tikai nodrošina dizaina pieejamību jaunām auditorijām, bet arī jaunu auditoriju piesaisti dizaina procesiem,”
par savu pieredzi žūrijas priekšsēdētāja amatā dalās dizainers Maiks Bonds no Lielbritānijas.
The National Design Award of Latvia is the highest award in the design field in Latvia, which is presented with the aim to identify, evaluate and promote the best achievements of Latvian designers and advance the development of the Latvian design industry. A total of 159 works were submitted to the National Design Award of Latvia 2023. This is the highest number of entries for the highest design award in Latvia to date. The selection jury nominated 59 works for participation in the second round of the competition. In the second round, the works were evaluated by an international final jury, which nominated 19 finalists, from which the winners were selected.
The final jury was composed by national and international design experts:
- Mike Bond (London, United Kingdom) — chairman of the final jury, design strategist, co-founder and director of brand design consultancy agency «Bond and Coyne»
- Audronė Drungilaitė (Vilnius, Lithuania) — product designer, Director of the Design Innovation Centre at Vilnius Academy of Arts.
- Brigita Bula (Riga, Latvia) — head architect of «Brigita Bula architects» and board member of the Latvian Association of Architects
- Emil Roman Frøge (Kopenhagen, Denmark) — designer, creative director and partner of «Archival Studies» agency
- Ingūna Elere (Riga, Latvia) — head designer in design studio «H2E», professor in the Art Academy of Latvia, co-founder of SEGD Riga Chapter
- Kristaps Šteimanis (Riga, Latvia) — art director of digital design, production, and consulting company «Cube»
- Liene Drāzniece (Riga, Latvia) — graphic designer, co-founder, and head designer of organic skin care company «Madara Cosmetics».
Submission of works for the National Design Award of Latvia 2024 competition will begin on October 1st, 2023. The National Design Award of Latvia was established in 2017 with the support of the Ministry of Culture. From 2023 to 2025, the competition is organized by the Latvian Design Centre.