2025 VIVID Winners

Congratulations to the winners and those who received commendations at the 2025 VIVID Emerging Design Awards.

Furniture

Winner

Jacob de Dassel

Folding Chair
This chair is an exploration of simplicity and complexity – a design that tries to reinterpret this kind of elegantly minimal, yet thoughtfully detailed furniture. Developed through extensive iteration and refinement, Folding Chair balances precision, aesthetic appeal and practicality, with sensitivity to both user experience and environmental responsibility.

Commendation

Jordan Conlan

Key Stool
Key stool, brought to life with the idea of creating a functional piece of furniture, fitting into a multitude of environments & hard to fill spaces, inspired by the harshness & brutality of the surrounding natural environment, it is a conventional form nuanced by motifs of craft & precise details.

Commendation

Curtis Bloxsidge

Knitted Chair
In collaboration with 2am close, the Knitted Chair encapsulates an experiment between jarrah and knit. Hand-shaped timber forms are wrapped in knit using organic laddering techniques to prompt associations of land surfaces, DNA, and mycelium. This piece expresses itself through a relatable, somewhat characterised body for the home.

Lighting

Winner

Curtis Bloxsidge

Kukeri Floor Lamp
In collaboration with 2am close, the Kukeri Floor Lamp is a reference to a Bulgarian costume worn whilst performing traditional rituals to fend off evil spirits. Combining this with the warmth and charm of the art deco fringed lamps to serve as a playful expression of the classic floor lamp.

Commendation

Carl Broesen

Pipeflute Box
The Pipeflute Box Light explore rhythm and repetition through a stacked arrangement of stainless steel tubes. This alternating pattern, reminiscent of a finger joint used in woodworking, serves both a structural and aesthetic function—bringing the pipes together to form a seamless box that houses a light source and two diffusers.

Commendation

James Sulaiman

In Search of a Limit
Search for a Limit is a table lamp by Schwa Studio that fuses modern technology with traditional leather craftsmanship. Using innovative 3D molding techniques, the piece explores new ways to manipulate leather, challenging its limits and reimagining its potential as a functional object and a statement of material exploration.

Object

Winner

Lucy Callahan

Ridl
Ridl is a bottle opener reimagined for comfort and elegance. Its unique downward action reduces wrist strain, blending intuitive function with minimalist form. Designed for everyday use, Ridl is both a refined tool and a sculptural object—fit for kitchens, bars, and hands that appreciate thoughtful design.

Commendation

Miranda Burgess

Fractured Earth
Textural and Earthy my Fractured Earth vessel appear like wounds in the earth. Stitched together begging the damage to go no further. Heartbreakingly poignant this piece is in this time of ecological crisis.

Concept

Winner

Azzurra Zappacosta

UV-Reactive Colour Changing Drink Bottle for Sun Safety
This UV-sensitive drink bottle changes from white to navy blue in sunlight, helping users monitor UV exposure. The colour choice is accessible for red-green colour blindness. Featuring an ergonomic cap and durable handle strap, it combines sun safety with comfort and convenience for everyday, on-the-go hydration and awareness.

Commendation

Jay Turno, Leigh Shapiro Ellis , Caleb Cummins, Mungo Moje-O’Brien

Vault
A monolithic phone lock box designed to quietly disrupt habitual device use at home, Vault is intended as a centrepiece for minimal interiors, its function revealed through a slow turn of its outer form. This tactile, ritual object facilitates disconnection from smartphones and reconnection to physical and emotional presence.

Commendation

Gloria Kim

Kkokkio
Kkokkio is a ceramic glove-drying case with an acrylic stand that keeps rubber gloves dry, hygienic, and long-lasting. Inspired by South Korea’s iconic pink gloves and their resemblance to a chicken’s comb, Kkokkio transforms a household essential into a playful, functional piece.

Colour

Winner

Azzurra Zappacosta

UV-Reactive Colour Changing Drink Bottle for Sun Safety
This UV-sensitive drink bottle changes from white to navy blue in sunlight, helping users monitor UV exposure. The colour choice is accessible for red-green colour blindness. Featuring an ergonomic cap and durable handle strap, it combines sun safety with comfort and convenience for everyday, on-the-go hydration and awareness.

Commendation

Freddy Mata

Aeon Fox
Inspired by the sighting of a red fox in North Melbourne (corner of Queensberry St and Laurens St) one night of 2021 during a lockdown. Colours represents the reflexion of cars headlights on the Fox’s tale. Stealthy since the beginning of time.

Student

Winner

Savannah Kelly

Where Two Oceans Meet
Inspired by Cape Leeuwin’s oceanic confluence, Where Two Oceans Meet captures the harmony of opposing forces. Crafted from South West karri and jarrah, its operable tambour doors curve like converging waves—blending functionality with the poetry of nature and a deep sense of place.

Commendation

Lachlan Willix

Canopy Lamp
Inspired by the place where it was made. It references memories of the Western Australian landscape, watching the warm morning sun come through the canopy, casting dappled light across the forest floor. The piece functions as an atmospheric floor lamp with an adjustable light which can manipulate the dappled effect.

Commendation

Lenie Chin

Augi: Toy Design for Neurodiversity Inclusion
Augi is a set of toys designed to create accessible, supportive, and inclusive play experiences for children with and without neurological differences. Developed in collaboration with parents, educators, therapists, and neurodiversity specialists, Augi helps children with autism understand and express emotions through interactive character-building play during early childhood development.

Judges Choice

Maryam Moghadam

Gnawing [Knowing]
Gnawing [Knowing] ashtray embodies the paradox between message and function, a cautionary object that also enables the very behaviour it critiques. Existing in the space between advocacy and complicity, Gnaw holds up a mirror to the complexity of human behaviour: our capacity to acknowledge harm while continuing to participate in it.

ADA

Winner

Jacob de Dassel

Folding Chair
This chair is an exploration of simplicity and complexity – a design that tries to reinterpret this kind of elegantly minimal, yet thoughtfully detailed furniture. Developed through extensive iteration and refinement, Folding Chair balances precision, aesthetic appeal and practicality, with sensitivity to both user experience and environmental responsibility.