2025 National Design Award Winners

The National Design Awards honor innovation and impact and recognize the power of design to change the world. Established in 2000 as a project of the White House Millennium Council, the National Design Awards bring national recognition to the ways in which design enriches everyday life.

Meet the 2025 Winners

Kim Hastreiter

Design Visionary

Kim Hastreiter. Photo: Jeremy Liebman

Kim Hastreiter is an artist and a multihyphenate communicator who shares ideas and discoveries in many mediums: art, zines, books, social media, and podcasts. A cultural anthropologist, Hastreiter has made a great impact by forecasting cultural movements, talents, and trends and by collaborating with the art and design community to make big ideas happen. She cofounded PAPER Magazine, where she acted as creative director, curator, editor, publisher, and writer; she covered the fields of design, art, fashion, and pop culture until the magazine was sold in 2017. Hastreiter works to bring culture to life with projects ranging from a 17-year collaboration with Target on its Design for All partnerships with well-known and emerging designers to conceptual pop-up “department stores” in L.A., New York, and Miami. In these projects, she examines the relationships among art, commerce, and culture—currently, with a series of zines that document and commemorate the fleeting digital commentary made by artists via memes. She is also an avid collector, and her newest book, STUFF: A New York Life of Cultural Chaos (Damiani/Amazing Unlimited, 2025), which launches in the spring of 2025, is both a memoir and a history book that is told through the stories of her material goods.

Grid of 56 different Paper Magazine covers. — Kim Hastreiter, *PAPER* magazine covers, designed under the creative direction of Hastreiter, who pioneered new ways to articulate pop culture through design, fashion, and art. The indie downtown monthly magazine was co-founded in 1984 by Hastreiter and David Hershkovits and covered alternative fashion, art, design, music, people, and culture (New York, New York, 1984–2017). Photo: Kim Hastreiter

Cover of zine depicting the portrait of Mona Lisa becoming more haggard under covid. — Kim Hastreiter, Annotated cover design titled “MEMEZEEN #3.” One of the ongoing series of zines Hastreiter creates to commemorate the fleeting and fragile moments of culture that occur and are reflected on social media via memes. The “MEMEZEEN #3” edition published in 2024 featured COVID crisis memes (New York, New York, 2024–ongoing). Photo: Kim Hastreiter

Diagram of playful advertisement proposal for Target that includes a combination afropick/can opener/key chain and rubber toilet gloves with sponge fingers. — Kim Hastreiter, Editorial spread, *PAPER* magazine. Inspired by the accessibility of the prices and products at Target, Hastreiter featured this spread in the annual design issue of *PAPER* in 2001. This issue served as the prelude to Hastreiter’s long-lived partnership with the trusted retailer as a design collaborator and consultant (New York, New York, 2001). Project partner: Ruben Toledo (illustrator). Photo: Courtesy of Kim Hastreiter

Diagram of illustrations and character outline for Yolanda Jones. — Kim Hastreiter, Illustrated spread, Design and Fashion Issue, *PAPER* magazine. Partnering with Creative Growth Art Center, Hastreiter asked artists with developmental disabilities to illustrate the latest fashion collections, continuing her dedication to promoting and celebrating the inclusion of “outsiders” in the design, art, and fashion world (New York, New York, 2001–07). Project partners: Creative Growth Art Center; Paul Costa (illustration); William Scott (illustration). Photo: Randy Brooke

Front page of The New Now newspaper depicting photographs of resistance and protests. — Kim Hastreiter, Annotated cover design, “The New Now.” A community broadsheet newspaper edited and published from Hastreiter’s park bench “office” in Washington Square Park during the COVID-19 pandemic. Amid the heights of isolation and double-masking, friends, idols, and isolated creatives contributed their ideas about what the hell was going on (New York, New York, 2021). Project partner: Ed Fella (logo illustration). Photo: Kim Hastreiter

Two character illustrations by COOP of women wearing garments from Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent from Kim Hastreiter's collection. — Kim Hastreiter, *PAPER* magazine collaboration with Deitch Projects; COOP Illustrated Couture. Series of pop-ups curated by Hastreiter during fashion week dedicated to bringing elusive cultures to life (New York, New York, 2001). Photo: COOP Illustrated Couture

A book cover with the title [STUFF] written in a large, black, hand written manner over a white background. — Kim Hastreiter, *STUFF: A New York Life of Cultural Chaos* book design. Co-published by Amazing Unlimited and Damiani. In this 448-page tome, Hastreiter tells the many incredible stories of the cultural chaos she witnessed in New York City over the past fifty years through the stories of her stuff (New York, New York, 2025). Photo: Jeremy Liebman

A stylized email relaying the brief of Rebranding America alongside an image of Barack Obama as Uncle Sam. — Kim Hastreiter, Annotated editorial spread titled “Rebranding America,” Design Issue, *PAPER* magazine. Published around the time of the inauguration of President Obama. Hastreiter recruited ad makers, artists, and creatives working in media to design an ad campaign for our country as if it were a client in trouble through this 24-page piece (New York, New York, 2009). Project partner: George Lois (illustrator). Photo: Courtesy of Kim Hastreiter

Photograph of a building facade with the word [PAPER] in hot pink capital letters splashed across its awning and windows. — Kim Hastreiter, *PAPER* Magazine Department Store Pop-Up, Los Angeles. Hastreiter’s first pop up art store examining the relationship between art, commerce, and culture that eventually expanded to New York and Miami (Los Angeles, California, 2004–10). Photo: Kim Hastreiter

Photograph of people marching in a street carrying a large banner that reads [The Art Parade]. — Kim Hastreiter, Art Parade, New York. For three years, Deitch Projects and *PAPER* magazine fashioned art happenings, including an annual event where artists and designers paraded through the streets during fashion week (New York, New York, 2005–07). Project partner: Deitch Projects. Photo: Courtesy of Kim Hastreiter

ilumiNACIÓN by Resilient Power Puerto Rico

Climate Action

Resilient Power Puerto Rico. From left to right: Resilient Power Puerto Rico’s executive director, Alejandra Castrodad-Rodríguez, with ilumiNACIÓN's programmer and developer, Victor Cuadrado Landrau, and visual and graphic designer Gustavo Castrodad Rodríguez. Photo: José Rodrigo Madera

Developed by the nonprofit organization Resilient Power Puerto Rico (RPPR), ilumiNACIÓN is a web-based platform designed to drive equitable and sustainable climate solutions while strengthening communities’ capacity to respond, rebuild, and prosper after extreme climate events. RPPR was formed in the wake of Hurricanes Irma and Maria and works to increase uninterrupted access to decentralized distributed renewable energy for marginalized groups and communities, for example by co-developing 44 solar energy systems and providing technical assistance to dozens of community-based organizations. ilumiNACIÓN will include an energy calculator, data collection tools, and a georeferenced climate vulnerability tool, all aimed at generating actionable information for communities to document their energy and climate needs and participate in optimizing energy efficiency, solar energy adoption, and resilience initiatives. The platform’s design was led by RPPR’s executive director, Alejandra Castrodad-Rodríguez, in collaboration with Victor Cuadrado Landrau and Gustavo Castrodad Rodríguez.

A neat hand-drawn chart with sticky notes displaying ilumiNACION's energy data conceptualization. — Resilient Power Puerto Rico. An Energy Auditor uses the Energy Calculator to measure energy consumption at Hogar 4 Instituto Psicopedagógico de Puerto Rico (Bayamon, Puerto Rico, 2023). Photo: Resilient Power Puerto Rico

A person on a laptop working on an Energy Calculator bar graph. — Resilient Power Puerto Rico. Mockup of the Energy Calculator in use on laptop computer (San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2024). Photo: Resilient Power Puerto Rico

A person holding a large touchscreen tablet displaying a rating system on ilumiNACION Platform Application. — Resilient Power Puerto Rico. Mockup of ilumiNACIÓN Energy Calculator on iPad Pro (San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2024). Photo: Resilient Power Puerto Rico

A woman with dark hair holds out a digital tablet to a group of people sitting around a table. — Resilient Power Puerto Rico. Alejandra Castrodad, Executive Director of Resilient Power Puerto Rico and Lead Designer of ilumiNACIÓN demonstrates the Energy Calculator to a group of leaders from Colectiva Feminista en Construcción (Río Piedras, Puerto Rico, 2025). Photo: Stephan Alexander Torres Salgado

Nu Goteh

Emerging Designer

Nu Goteh. Photo: Sarah Pooley

Nu Goteh is a designer, strategist, and educator who envisions design as a tool for communities to reclaim their futures. As founder and principal of Room for Magic and co-founder, managing partner, and creative director of Deem Journal, Goteh is at the forefront of an emerging generation of designers who integrate design, culture, art, community, and social practice. Through Deem’s global platform, which has expanded beyond the print journal to include experiential activations and digital content, Goteh works to create a more inclusive future by examining design as a process instead of as output. His community-centric studio practice, Room for Magic, brings together marketing, storytelling, creative direction, and human-centered design for clients such as the Art for Justice Fund, the Ford Foundation, the World Peace Foundation, the National Memorial for the Underground Railroad, and the Urban Civil Rights Museum, as well as for brands like Jordan and Headspace. Influenced by his Liberian heritage and passion for counterculture, Goteh is a global voice for design as a social practice.

An assemblage of 5 different deem magazine covers displaying portraits of medium and dark-skinned people. — Nu Goteh, *Deem Journal*, a print and online global platform focused on design as a social practice, enabling voices beyond traditional industries to engage in dialogue and create a more inclusive design future (United States, 2019–ongoing). Photo: V.E. Chen

People in front of a large screen from the deem symposium that reads [Designing for Dignity] in towering capital letters. — Nu Goteh, “Designing for Dignity: A Convening of Possibilities,” *Deem Symposium*. An in-person and hybrid symposium for designers, practitioners, and community members to discuss various themes from *Deem Journal* (Chicago, Illinois, 2023–24). Project partner: Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago. Photo: Brian Crawford

A smartphone screen displaying a track from deem audio which portrays a smiling photo of Jezz Chung and the words [Dreaming Different with Jezz Chung]. — Nu Goteh, “Dreaming Different,” *Deem Audio*. A six-episode podcast in collaboration with Jezz Chung that explores how to design a future from a neurodivergent perspective (Los Angeles, California, 2023). Project partner: Jay Black (photography). Photo: Courtesy of *Deem Journal*

A modern style reading room displaying books on a large table and shelves. — Nu Goteh, The Reference Room, *Deem Journal*. A public gathering space including curated literary materials related to various issues of *Deem Journal* (Chicago, Illinois, 2021–ongoing). Project partner: Norman Teague (furniture design). Photo: Sarah Pooley

A laptop showing the homepage of the Art for Justice Fund perched on top of a sculpture of an ionic column. — Nu Goteh, website design for Art for Justice Fund, exemplifies Room for Magic’s commitment to empowering communities through research, design, and the transformative power of art, as it helped the Fund reshape narratives and foster empathy regarding mass incarceration through the work of its grantees, humanizing it through bold colors and vibrant images to create a compelling web experience that integrates policy, data, and storytelling (2024). Project partners: Room for Magic; Olu & Co. Photo: Cody Cano

A laptop displaying the colorful homepage of Yowie's website on a wooden table. — Nu Goteh, website design for Yowie Hotel, brings all elements of the boutique hotel into a cohesive web experience that highlights the brand’s fun and vibrant personality (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 2022). Design Lead: Room for Magic. Photo: Cody Cano

A publicly displayed advertisement poster of the Michigan Justice Fund depicting a photo of two people hugging. — Nu Goteh, logo and branding for Michigan Justice Fund, a collaborative of funders dedicated to criminal justice reform, empowers and amplifies the Fund’s values and mission (Detroit, Michigan, 2020). Project partners: Room for Magic; Olu & Co.; Petey Routzahn. Photo: Courtesy of Nu Goteh

Three large stylized advertisement posters of Freelon and the Sounds of Summer along a public walkway. — Nu Goteh, branding for The Freelon, a project initiated by Develop Detroit, celebrates the rich cultural history of The Sugar Hill Historic District, a district historically known as an epicenter for Black-led music, culture, and visual art, through a vibrant and fresh design (Detroit, Michigan, 2021). Project partners: Develop Detroit; Room for Magic. Photo: Courtesy of Nu Goteh

A touchscreen tablet showing the homepage of World Peace Foundation's website which displays in a large font the words [Research for Non-Violent Futures]. — Nu Goteh, website design and branding for World Peace Foundation, goes beyond aesthetics to create a streamlined and accessible space for users to explore diverse content (Los Angeles, California, 2024). Project Partner: Room for Magic. Photo: Cody Cano

A laptop open to the homepage of Diversity in Design Collaborative's website. — Nu Goteh, website design and branding for Diversity in Design Collaborative (DiD), an initiative founded by MillerKnoll to foster systemic change by increasing diversity and improving conditions for Black creatives in design (Los Angeles, California, 2022–ongoing). Project partner: Room for Magic. Photo: Courtesy of Nu Goteh

Michael Maltzan Architecture

Architecture

Michael Maltzan. Photo: Ron Eshel

Founded in 1995, Michael Maltzan Architecture is a Los Angeles–based architecture practice whose work spans affordable housing, innovative urban infrastructure, and cross-disciplinary educational spaces. The firm’s practice is rooted in a deep belief in architecture’s capacity to create new physical, cultural, and social connections, and the firm’s groundbreaking work is often located in challenging locations. Sometimes the work is intended to point to a different future for an organization, a community, or an individual. Notable projects include Inner City Arts, a multiphase youth arts center in the heart of Skid Row; Star Apartments, a first-of-its-kind prefabricated construction; and the Los Angeles Sixth Street Viaduct, which radically reimagines infrastructure as civic amenity in the contemporary city.

A curved and undulating facade of an ultra modern stone and glass building on a city street. — Michael Maltzan Architecture, Qaumajuq, the Inuit Art Centre at the Winnipeg Art Gallery, draws on the ephemeral nature of northern environments and serves as a space for the celebration of Inuit art and culture (Winnipeg, Manitoba, 2021). Associate Architect: Cibinel Architecture Ltd. Photo: Lindsay Reid

The facade of an ultra modern boxy dark grey building on stilts. — Michael Maltzan Architecture, Moody Center for the Arts is a facility dedicated to the advancement of transdisciplinary collaboration between the arts, sciences, and humanities (Houston, Texas, 2017). Photo: Iwan Baan

A birds eye view of Los Angeles depicting a small complex of modern white buildings amongst a sea of dark grey buildings. — Michael Maltzan Architecture, Inner-City Arts is an urban campus for arts education conceived as an open-air village; it houses a range of arts facilities (Los Angeles, California, 2008). Photo: Iwan Baan

The courtyard of a modern white two-story building with a pedestrian bridge. — Michael Maltzan Architecture, UCLA Hammer Museum is reinvigorated as a space that is inviting and accessible through a decades-long transformation (Los Angeles, California, 2023). Photo: Courtesy of Michael Maltzan Architecture

Sweeping birds eye view of the Los Angeles Sixth Street Viaduct within a large city. — Michael Maltzan Architecture, Sixth Street Viaduct inspires connectivity through its iconic design, serving as both infrastructure and public space (Los Angeles, California, 2022). Engineer/Executive Architect: HNTB Corporation; Landscape: Hargreaves Associates; Urban Planning: AC Martin. Photo: Iwan Baan

Facade of a modern white building elevated on columns that undulates as it stretches down a city street. — Michael Maltzan Architecture, One Santa Fe served as a catalyst for the Arts District’s transformation, anchoring new community life in the formerly industrial neighborhood (Los Angeles, California, 2015). Photo: Iwan Baan

Facade of a modern white boxy building decorated with windows on a city street corner. — Michael Maltzan Architecture, Star Apartments is a 102-unit permanent supportive housing project that provides critical services, community space, and generous dwellings for its residents. Built using prefabricated units, it is a modular multifamily project for unhoused individuals (Los Angeles, California, 2014). Photo: Iwan Baan

Facade of a modern white building at dusk with an undulating triangular roof and decorated with accents of dark green. — Michael Maltzan Architecture, 26 Point 2 Apartments is a 77-unit supportive housing project for unhoused individuals (Long Beach, California, 2023). Photo: Iwan Baan

Photo of the top of a rounded and multi-sided building seen from a highway underpass. — Michael Maltzan Architecture, New Carver Apartments explores how architecture can create possibilities for the underserved. A permanent supportive housing project for formerly unhoused individuals, the New Carver Apartments inspire optimism and change through architecture (Los Angeles, California, 2009). Photo: Iwan Baan

Exterior view of an angular pavilion overlooking a steep bluff with a white heptagonal building in the distance on the corner edge of the cliffside. — Michael Maltzan Architecture, Pittman Dowell Residence explores social and spatial simultaneity, inspired by the evolving relationship between building and landscape (La Crescenta, California, 2009). Photo: Iwan Baan

Matt Willey

Communication Design

Matt Willey. Photo: Maria Spann

Matt Willey is a graphic designer. He joined Pentagram as a partner in 2020 after five years as the art director of The New York Times Magazine. Willey has worked with several of the leading titles in independent publishing, including Port, Elephant, The New York Review of Books, The Paris Review, and the UK newspaper The Independent. In 2021, he redesigned The Big Issue, the largest street magazine in the world. He is currently the creative director and co-founder of the annual literary magazine INQUE. Willey has developed branding systems and title sequences for a wide range of clients, including the design of the titles for the award-winning BBC series Killing Eve. A consistent thread throughout Willey’s work is the incorporation of custom-drawn typefaces, which he draws for the specific contexts of the brands, publications, and stories in which they appear. Willey donates the proceeds of several of his typefaces to charity. He has helped raise more than $150,000 for Cancer Research UK and for Macmillan Cancer Support through the BuyFontsSaveLives initiative.

Cover of New York Times Magazine depicting a black and white photo of an older person with their eyes closed and mouth slightly open as if they are sighing. — Matt Willey, Cover portrait of *King Lear* lead Glenda Jackson, *The New York Times Magazine* (New York, New York, 2019). Project partner: Jack Davison (photography). Photo: Courtesy of Matt Willey

The words [Killing Eve] in a bolded black all caps font against a salmon background, the center of the [v] stylized to look like a drip. — Matt Willey, *Killing Eve* title sequence and identity. Featuring a custom-designed typeface with knife-sharp edges and subtle blood-drop animation inspired by the narrative of the show (London, 2018–22). Photo: Courtesy of Matt Willey

Cover of The Paris Review magazine depicting a large painting of two red cherries against a tan background. — Matt Willey, Issue 238, *The Paris Review*. Redesigned with a clean, modern aesthetic inspired by the magazine’s archives (New York, New York, 2022). Project partners: Emily Stokes (editor-in-chief); Na Kim (art director); Rose Wylie (cover illustration). Photo: Courtesy of Matt Willey

Stamps depicting [UN75] in overlapping different colors shown displaying three different currencies. — Matt Willey, United Nations 75th Anniversary Stamps commemorate the 75th anniversary of the United Nations, celebrating the milestone with layered typography and colors that convey unity (New York, New York, 2020). Photo: Courtesy of Matt Willey

Cover of Inque Magazine portraying a large green circle on top of the bottom half of a face. — Matt Willey, Issue 1, *INQUE* Magazine. A large-format annual literary magazine dedicated to documenting a decade through literature (New York, New York, 2021–ongoing). Photo: Courtesy of Matt Willey

Assemblage of a font in white, pink, green, and black. — Matt Willey, Blakey. A custom typeface originally drawn for the Great Performers issue of *The New York Times Magazine*, available publicly through BuyFontsSaveLives, an initiative dedicated to fundraising for Cancer Research and Macmillan Cancer Support (London, 2014–ongoing). Photo: Courtesy of Matt Willey

Cover of Port Magazine featuring a black and white photo of Kelvin Harrison Jr. surrounded by pink text on a black background. — Matt Willey, Cover portrait of Kelvin Harrison Junior, Issue 26, *Port Magazine*. A style and culture magazine combining sophistication and popular culture through bold typography, bright colors, and powerful photography (London, 2020). Project partners: Matt Willey (co-founder, art director); Kuchar Swara (co-founder); Dan Crowe (co-founder); Georgie Wood (photography). Photo: Courtesy of Matt Willey

Cover story of the Independent newspaper featuring a photo of Yasser Arafat above the headline [The next genetic revolution]. — Matt Willey, Annotated cover design titled “The Next Genetic Revolution,” *The Independent* (London, 2013). Project partners: La Tigre (logo design); Henrik Kubel (typeface design). Photo: Courtesy of Matt Willey

Tabletop with green, white, and black tiles supported by a silver metal frame and legs. — Matt Willey, Huguet Coffee Table, Tile MW03. Inspired by traditional Mallorcan ceramic production; engages with users through its interactivity, bold colors, and graphic patterns (Mallorca, Spain, 2022). Photo: Courtesy of Matt Willey

Cover of The New York Review of Books magazine featuring a painting of a person's head in the traditional renaissance style with their hair covering their eyes like a helmet. — Matt Willey, Annotated cover design, Volume 69, no. 16, *The New York Review of Books* (New York, New York, 2022). Project partners: Gabriel Winslow-Yost (co-editor); Emily Greenhouse (co-editor); Henrik Kubel (typeface design). Photo: Courtesy of Matt Willey

Emerging Objects

Digital Design

Left: Virginia San Fratello. Right: Ronald Rael. Photos: Elliot Ross

Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello, founders of Emerging Objects, specialize in innovations in 3D printing architecture, products, software, hardware, and materials. They view themselves as digital alchemists, material scientists, and cooks, saying they see themselves “inventing recipes that allow us to ask questions about the future of the digital world through the lens of 3D printing.” They digitally design 3D printed environments and objects for the 21st century, in the process creating new biodigital materials from items in the waste stream such as sawdust, coffee grounds, and rubber tires, and they examine how traditional materials can be transformed into digital materials of tomorrow using local and Indigenous materials such as wildfire ash, earth, and salt. Rael and San Fratello are also professors at public universities who bring digital design and fabrication to thousands of students.

Multiple clay pots with varying textures and shapes displayed on a white table. — Emerging Objects, 3D printed ceramics made using Potterware, an intuitive design application for 3D printing ceramics with features allowing anyone to be creative even without digital design experience (2015). Photo: Emerging Objects

Birds eye view of two people enjoying cooking with tagines over a campfire within a small walled-in space. — Emerging Objects, Casa Covida explores digital design, 3D printing with indigenous material mud, and cohabitation during the time of COVID-19, offering a new paradigm for building the future with materials from the past (San Luis Valley, Colorado, 2021). Photo: Elliot Ross

Three pots of different shapes and sizes made of clay and lace-like metal work. — Emerging Objects, WUIware, 3D printed ceramic vessels made from wildfire ash (San Jose, California, 2023). Photo: Emerging Objects

A group of people sit in casual conversation inside of a modern one-room, pink-lit structure with large glass doors that open onto a deck. — Emerging Objects, Cabin of 3D Printed Curiosities brings together material, software, and hardware experiments to demonstrate the architectural potential of digital design (Oakland, California, 2018). Photo: Matthew Millman

A group of people stand marveling in the center of a kaleidoscopic structure. — Emerging Objects, Star Lounge is a large-scale 3D printed structure made with small, inexpensive desktop printers (Berkely, California/New York, New York, 2015). Photo: Matthew Millman

A white sculpture made of mesh-like material that displays patterns of leaves on its surface. — Emerging Objects, Bloom is the world’s first large-scale experimental pavilion made with 3D printed cement (Berkeley, California, 2015). Photo: Matthew Millman

A person holds in front of their face a head-sized charcoal-colored object covered in exaggerated sponge-like holes. — Emerging Objects, Rubber Pouf transforms 3D-printed end-of-life tires into sustainable furniture (Oakland, California, 2016). Photo: Emerging Objects

A white star-shaped object covered in small algae blooms is perched next to a larger fish within a coral reef. — Emerging Objects, 3D Printed Coral Units restore coral reefs with digitally designed settlement substrates (Multiple locations, 2021–ongoing). Photo: Courtesy of Secore International

A terracotta-colored lidded pot covered completely in a bumpy and rough textured material. — Emerging Objects, Furry Curry Casserole Dish is 3D printed out of curry; it explores the relationship between 3D printing, food, and food waste (Oakland, California, 2018). Photo: Emerging Objects

A photo of a sleek black prism-shaped machine next to a photo of a person using 3-D printing software on their laptop. — Emerging Objects, Forust, a start-up technology company that brings additive manufacturing and sustainability into industrialized production using recycled wood waste (Boston, Massachusetts, 2020–ongoing). Photo: Courtesy of Desktop Metal

Melitta Baumeister

Fashion Design

Melitta Baumeister and Michal Plata. Photo: Michal Plata

Melitta Baumeister is an independent brand and maker of expressively unique wearable garments that reject trends, body standards, and beauty ideals. Based on a futuristic, minimalist aesthetic, the brand’s clothing often exaggerates volume and creates sculptural silhouettes, using innovative techniques and materials to infuse the surprising, the mysterious, and the humorous of the everyday. Baumeister’s designs are intended to impact not only the wearer but also the space around them. The brand is led by Melitta Baumeister, a German-born fashion designer, now based in New York, who received her MFA in Fashion Design at Parsons The New School. She works closely with her partner, Michal Plata, who brings an interdisciplinary perspective shaped by his previous experience as a car and context designer at BMW Advanced Design. Their synergy blends artistic experimentation with conceptual rigor.

A model wears a sleek black oversized jacket with a sculpture of life-sized black-colored bananas on the front torso. — Melitta Baumeister, Look from Fall/Winter 2014 Collection (New York, New York, 2014). Photo: Paul Jung

A model wears a knee-length transparent coat cinched with an oversized white belt. — Melitta Baumeister, Look from Spring/Summer 2015 Collection (New York, New York, 2015). Photo: Paul Jung

A model wears a high-collared black leather jacket that puffs out at the back, straight black pants, and black furry shoes. — Melitta Baumeister, Look from Fall/Winter 2019 Collection (New York, New York, 2019). Photo: Michal Plata

A model wears a sleeveless black dress that angles out at the hips and hangs to the floor in a hair-like material. — Melitta Baumeister, Look from Spring/Summer 2021 Collection (New York, New York, 2021). Photo: Michal Plata

A model wears a shiny formless dress with exaggerated puffy shoulders and black shoes with soles like that of large legos. — Melitta Baumeister, Look from Fall/Winter 2021 Collection (New York, New York, 2021). Photo: Michal Plata

Two models stand together wearing bright red dresses in complementary abstract shapes like that of a yin and yang symbol. — Melitta Baumeister, Look from Fall/Winter 2022 Collection (New York, New York, 2022). Photo: Michal Plata

A heavily tattooed model wears a boxy, bright green short-sleeved dress and black platform shoes with large bows. — Melitta Baumeister, Look from Spring/Summer 2023 Collection (New York, New York, 2023). Photo: Michal Plata

A model wears a form-fitting shiny black dress in the shape of two bells stacked on top of one another. — Melitta Baumeister, Look from Fall/Winter 2023 Collection (New York, New York, 2023). Photo: Michal Plata

A group of models ranging in age and skin color stand in three perfect rows wearing haute couture garments of white, black, and orange and hold smartphones up to their faces displaying another face than their own. — Melitta Baumeister, Spring/Summer 2023 Collection at New York Fashion Week (New York, New York, 2023). Photo: Michal Plata

Two models are casually posed together wearing long black drop-waist garments. — Melitta Baumeister, Look from Fall/Winter 2024 Collection (New York, New York, 2024). Photo: Michal Plata

Little Wing Lee

Interior Design

Little Wing Lee. Photo: Kelly Marshall

Little Wing Lee is an interior designer known for her sharp eye for color, texture, and materiality, along with her thoughtful and narrative-driven approach to design. In 2019, she started Studio & Projects, whose work spans cultural institutions, commercial environments, public and private hospitality spaces, intimate residences, and products. Driven by human experience, compelling narratives, and the profound power of beauty, Studio & Projects explores design as a holistic exercise by drawing upon the expertise of a diverse range of collaborators. Lee also founded Black Folks in Design, a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to bring awareness to and promote the cultural contributions, excellence, and importance of Black designers.

A terracotta-colored multi-storied building facade decorated with many rectangular windows and labeled [National Black Theater]. — Little Wing Lee, National Black Theatre (Harlem, New York, 2024). Project partners: Frida Escobedo Studio; Handel Architects; Marvel. Photo: Courtesy of Luxigon

An interior pencil sketch of a lobby with tiled floors and a seating nook. — Little Wing Lee, National Black Theatre Lobby, handdrawn rendering (Harlem, New York, 2024). Project partners: Frida Escobedo Studio; Handel Architects; Marvel. Photo: Studio & Projects

A modern living room with a fireplace decorated in sleek furniture and rich green and brown earth tones. — Little Wing Lee, Ace Toronto Lobby (Toronto, Ontario, 2022). Photo: William Jess Laird

Three orb-shaped sconces with frames of black, rust, and yellow against a blue background. — Little Wing Lee, Cape Sconce in multiple colors (2023). Collaboration with RBW. Photo: RBW

A warm, midcentury modern restaurant interior with orb-shaped lighting and a rounded archway. — Little Wing Lee, Bar Bete Dining Room and Bar (Brooklyn, New York, 2019). Photo: Joseph De Leo

A midcentury modern restaurant interior with orb-shaped lighting, large street-facing windows, blush leather booth and wooden table seating, and decorative floral arrangements. — Little Wing Lee, Bar Bete Dining Room and Bar (Brooklyn, New York, 2019). Photo: Joseph De Leo

A design fair booth interior framed by modular bookshelves with floral arrangements, large geometric wall hangings, framed prints, and a trio of carved benches. — Little Wing Lee, Black Folks in Design Exhibition (New York, New York, 2023). Photo: Kelly Marshall

A large woven geometric wall hanging framed by two spherical sconces, a floral arrangement on a pedestal, and a wooden bench. — Little Wing Lee, Black Folks in Design Exhibition (New York, New York, 2023). Photo: Kelly Marshall

A white gallery wall interior with several pieces of furniture displayed on elevated pedestals arranged in a semi-circle around a central column. — Little Wing Lee, Black Folks in Design Exhibition (New York, New York, 2023). Photo: Kelly Marshall

A design fair booth interior with wall mounted tapestries and a display of three carved benches and a floral arrangement on dark green pedestals. — Little Wing Lee, Black Folks in Design Exhibition (New York, New York, 2023). Photo: Kelly Marshall

TERREMOTO

Landscape Architecture

A large group of people and a dog posing for a photo outdoors, with tall trees in the background.

TERREMOTO. Top row, left to right: Adrian Tenney, Zach Smith, Jordan Wolff, Yinuo Sun, Sarah Samynathan, Dawn Wang, Evita Rodriguez, Lauren Jordan, Kasey Toomey; Middle row, left to right: Hannah Pae, Nadia Alquaddoomi, Mattea Sierra Wallace, Nina Weithorn, Theresa Rathslag, Kara Holekamp, Story Wiggins, David Godshall, Alain Peauroi, Katherine Montgomery; Front row, left to right: Rachel Tucker, Tim Switzer, Sam Webb, Jenny Jones, Diego Lopez, Elena Fox, Dani VonLehe. Not pictured: Molly Butcher, Dante Iniguez. Photo: TERREMOTO

TERREMOTO is a landscape architecture design studio with offices in Los Angeles and San Francisco, California. David Godshall and Alain Peauroi founded the firm in 2012 with the intention of building gardens and landscapes that were explorations and investigations into ideas and culture. TERREMOTO creates well-built site-specific landscapes that respond to client needs while challenging historical and contemporary landscape construction methods, materials, and formal conventions. The studio’s design approach is to create “omni-positive gardens and landscapes that are fair, just, and generous in their relationships to labor, materials, and ecology.” The firm’s portfolio includes a diverse range of projects with various scales and typologies; one such project involves gardens that respond to the needs of all.

A large midcentury style wood-shingled building labeled [The Post Office] set on a sloping hill with manicured grass and tree-lined pathways. — TERREMOTO, Sea Ranch Lodge. The redesign of the landscape around the Lodge, originally laid out by Lawrence Halprin, reflects the spirit of the Northern California Modernist historic building while making thoughtful adjustments toward contemporary requirements, including ADA and fire access (Sea Ranch, California, 2022). Project partners: Mithun Architecture; Charles de Lisle Interiors. Photo: Caitlin Atkinson

A gravel lot with large bench-like pieces of timber lined by potted trees and a set of large gray shipping containers. — TERREMOTO, Varda Landing, a moveable kit of landscape parts, allowing for flexibility in response to fluctuations in water levels (Sausalito, California, 2020). Project partners: EYRC Architects; Commune Interiors. Photo: Caitlin Atkinson

A courtyard garden lined with wooden benches, a shaded slanted overhang, and walking path surrounded by a factory interior with floor-to-ceiling windows that double as sliding doors. — TERREMOTO, KX Lab. Built on a former parking lot, the project presents an ecological oasis on a highly urban site that is enjoyed by employees of an adjacent factory as well as by local animal populations (Los Angeles, California, 2021). Project partner: Omgivning Architecture. Photo: Stephen Schauer

Four large cubic open-air structures made with slanted wood paneling sit nestled in the green foliage of a rocky canyon hillside. — TERREMOTO, Laguna Canyon Foundation. The Laguna Canyon Foundation is dedicated to protecting the remaining undeveloped wildlands in coastal Southern California. The educational and ecologically robust landscape adjacent to the Foundation’s headquarters favors a gentle approach to stormwater management over heavy engineering solutions (Laguna Beach, California, 2021). Photo: Caitlin Atkinson

Overhead view of garden lot under construction with people digging a mound of dirt, scattered building and landscaping debris, a pair of people standing in the vegetation, and another pair unloading a bin from a truck parked outside the garden's entrance. — TERREMOTO, 7th Avenue Garden. Built on a vacant lot using scavenged materials, the mostly native garden space is a vibrant improvisational landscape and lively event space (Los Angeles, California, Ongoing). Project partner: David Horvitz. Photo: Nina Weithorn

Pedestrians sit on wood benches in a rocky landscaped park underneath the massive concrete pillars of an active overpass. — TERREMOTO, Platform Park transforms a vacant lot underneath the LA Metro into a thriving public green space. As an exploration of self-imposed constraints as a source of opportunity, the project consists only of materials sourced within 100 miles of the site (Culver City, California, 2019). Client: Runyon Group. Photo: Stephen Schauer

A team of four landscapers set a boulder into place with a large blue dolly. — TERREMOTO, Land and Labor. An internal working group dedicated to creating a more balanced and egalitarian relationship between labor and design by highlighting the labor that the profession of Landscape Architecture relies on (Ongoing). Photo: TERREMOTO

An exterior view of a home constructed from concrete blocks with a series of layered terraces lined with palm trees, cacti, and blooming vegetation. — TERREMOTO, The Storer House is one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s most prominent houses built in his Mayan period. The re-designed landscape prioritized native ecology, insects, and birds, realizing Wright’s original vision for a ruin rising out of primeval LA landscape. (West Hollywood, California, 2024). Project partner: Frank Lloyd Wright. Photo: Caitlin Atkinson

A nine-person landscaping team garden inside a fenced-off enclosed area within a larger hillside meadow. — TERREMOTO, Test Plot. An ongoing experiment in community-led land care, Test Plot returns agency to communities and reconnects people to their environment through hands-on community-led restoration projects (Multiple locations, 2019–ongoing). Project partners: Jen Toy/Test Plot; Saturate; Friends of Elysian Park; LA Rec and Parks. Photo: TERREMOTO

A blue outdoor pool with a stone pathway leading out to a grassy tree-lined landscape decorated with a large rough-hewn boulder. — TERREMOTO, Foothill Road. A mostly native garden constructed with existing rock from the building site, designed to not only protect a century-old Valley Oak tree but also coexist with the site’s groundwater flow (Ojai, California, 2023). Project partner: Samantha Mink (architect). Photo: Caitlin Atkinson

Jules Sherman

Product Design

Jules Sherman. Photo: Jan Sturmann

Jules Sherman is a leader in pediatric medical device design and healthcare innovation. Inspired by a traumatic hospital birth experience in 2010, she turned her focus from consumer product design to transforming pediatric and maternal healthcare through FDA-cleared devices that prioritize safety and efficacy. As director of the Biodesign Program at Children’s National Hospital, Sherman collaborates with clinicians, engineers, and families to develop innovative devices and teaches design thinking methodology for medical device development to nurses and students. Her work includes products like Trach Sense, which detects tracheostomy complications; The Kangarobe, which improves skin-to-skin care in neonatal ICUs; Primo-Lacto, a closed system for colostrum collection; and NOOMA Tech, which facilitates delayed cord clamping for preterm infants. In her role as adjunct professor at the University of Maryland, Sherman mentors engineering students and contributes to academic research.

Patient in doctor's office resting their pelvis on an elevated green foam cushion. — Jules Sherman, Pelvic Lift Cushion. A cushion designed to provide support during emergency pelvic exams in settings without proper OB/GYN stirrup tables (2017). Project partners: Stanford Medicine Safety Learning Lab for Neonatal and Maternal Care; Dr. Henry Lee; Dr. Lou Halamek. Photo: Courtesy of Jules Sherman

A pale blue robe labeled [Kangarobe] with a waist tie and a snap button neckline and series of Velcro straps to accommodate infant nursing, skin-to-skin contact, and medical device tubing. — Jules Sherman, The Kangarobe. A medical garment that facilitates skin-to-skin care (kangaroo care) in the neonatal intensive care unit (2023). Project partners: Dr. Ruth Anne Crystal; Gold Health LLC. Photo: Courtesy of Jules Sherman

A rolling device with an adjustable height elevated cart and vertical storage for monitors, suspended devices, tubing, and medical tanks. — Jules Sherman, NOOMA. A delayed cord-clamping cart for the preterm infant population (2023). Project partners: Stanford Medicine; Children’s National Hospital; Doug Schwandt; Chris Rothe. Photo: Courtesy of Jules Sherman

An elderly woman wearing a silver necklace with a medical alert button. — Jules Sherman, Personal Electronic Response (PERS) Necklace. Personal electronic response systems redesigned as jewelry and other wearable accessories allow wearers to maintain their style and appearance while remaining connected in case of an emergency (2012). Photo: Jules Sherman

A person holding a cylindrical and a rectangular small translucent plastic tube connector. — Jules Sherman, Connector Protectors. Tamper-resistant IV tube and G-tube connection point protectors for pediatric patients (2024). Project partners: Children’s National Hospital; Lori Irvin. Photo: Courtesy of Jules Sherman

A digital rendering of a lactating person holding a pumping device to their breast. — Jules Sherman, Primo Lacto. A closed system for colostrum collection for mothers who cannot or choose not to breastfeed directly after birth (2018). Photo: Courtesy of Jules Sherman

Three white numbered boxes of epinephrine labeled for children with varying dosage amounts along with two boxes of 4ml endotracheal epinephrine syringes. — Jules Sherman, Epinephrine Packaging for Pediatrics. Epinephrine is an emergency medication, dosed and packaged for adults only. The redesign is a dosing and packaging system for neonatal and pediatric patients (2023). Project partners: Stanford Medicine; Dr. William Rhine; Dr. Hannah Gu; Dr. Nicole Yamada; Dr. Lou Halamek; Dr. James Wall; Dr. Janene Fuerch; Alexandra McMillin. Photo: Dr. William Rhine

Meet the Jury

The National Design Awards Jury met at Cooper Hewitt to select this year’s winners. The 2025 National Design Awards jury, pictured alongside Cooper Hewitt Director Maria Nicanor, from left to right: Carson Chan, Gail Bichler, Maurice D. Cox, Maria Nicanor, Miren Arzalluz, and Llisa Demetrios. Not pictured: Michelle Millar Fisher and Fernando Laposse.

National Design Award winners are selected by a multidisciplinary jury of design practitioners, educators, and leaders. Nominations are open to all and are also solicited from experts from a wide range of design and related fields. Jurors join from diverse locations to review submissions, resulting in a final selection of 10 category awardees.

Miren Arzalluz

Miren Arzalluz studied history (B.A., Ph.D.) at the University of Deusto and comparative politics (M.Sc) at the London School of Economics before specializing in the history of dress and fashion at the Courtauld Institute of Art (M.A.). She was curator and head of collections at the Cristóbal Balenciaga Foundation between 2007 and 2013, where she played a key role in the conception and curation of the new Balenciaga Museum inaugurated in June 2011. As a freelance curator and researcher, she collaborated with various international museums on diverse projects such as Fashion Mix – Mode d’ici, créateurs d’ailleurs (Palais Galliera – Palais de la Porte Dorée, Musée de l’Histoire de l’Immigration); Les Années 50 – La Mode en France, 1947–1957 (Palais Galliera – Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao); and Game Changers: Reinventing the 20th-Century Silhouette (MoMu Antwerp). Since January 2018, she has been director of Palais Galliera, Musée de la Mode de Paris, where she has overseen an ambitious renovation and extension project that has redefined the museum’s vision and strategy for the future. Miren has recently been appointed director general of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain where she will begin her tenure in April 2025.

Gail Bichler

Gail Bichler is the creative director of The New York Times Magazine, where she leads the team responsible for the design and art direction of the magazine and its supplements. Bichler has been lauded as a leader in straddling the divide between print and digital design and shaping a more integrated future of editorial expression. During her tenure, the magazine and its staff have been named Design Team of the Year by the Art Director’s Club (ADC) for seven consecutive years and Brand of the Year by the Society of Publication Designers (SPD) six times. They received an award for digital innovation from the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) and a Pulitzer Prize for Illustrated Reporting and Commentary. Bichler and her team have been recognized by ADC, SPD, D&AD, ASME, The American Institute for Graphic Arts (AIGA), the Type Directors Club (TDC), and Creative Review, among others. Bichler has taught and lectured internationally. She is a member of Alliance Graphique Internationale and a former board member of the Society of Publication Designers.

Carson Chan

Carson Chan is the inaugural director of the Emilio Ambasz Institute for the Joint Study of the Built and Natural Environment at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City, where he is also curator of Architecture and Design. He develops, leads, and implements the Ambasz Institute’s manifold research initiatives through a range of programs that include exhibitions, public lectures, conferences, seminars, and publications. In 2023, he opened Emerging Ecologies: Architecture and the Rise of Environmentalism at MoMA, a large-scale survey of architecture’s response to environmental issues in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s. Before joining MoMA in 2021, he worked as an architecture writer, curator, and educator. In 2006 he cofounded PROGRAM, a project space and residency program in Berlin that tested the disciplinary boundaries of architecture through exhibition-making. Chan co-curated the 4th Marrakech Biennale in 2012, and the next year he served as executive curator of the Biennial of the Americas in Denver.

Maurice D. Cox, Jury Chair

Maurice D. Cox is the Emma Bloomberg Professor in Residence of Urban Planning and Design at the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD). Before joining the GSD faculty, Cox was director of Planning and Development for the City of Detroit between 2015 and 2019 and commissioner of Planning and Development for the City of Chicago between 2019 and 2023, focusing on the adaptive challenges facing contemporary urban revitalization. Cox is an urban designer acclaimed for his design-centered approach to urban planning, which incorporates active citizen participation into the public process while achieving the highest quality of design excellence. A recipient of the 2024 Henry Reed Hope Award and of honorary doctorates from the University of Detroit Mercy and the Illinois Institute of Technology, Cox was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2023 for lifetime achievements in architecture. He has lectured extensively on design and democracy, civic engagement, and urban transformation in disinvested communities.

Llisa Demetrios

As chief curator of the Eames Institute of Infinite Curiosity, Llisa Demetrios is responsible for stewarding the Eames Collection. Demetrios, a sculptor and archivist, worked for years alongside her mother, Lucia Eames, at the Eames Ranch in Petaluma, CA, where the two welcomed guests to immerse themselves in this unique body of work. Today, at the Eames Archives in Richmond, CA, Demetrios continues to share learnings from her legacy through exhibitions, events, and public tours.

Michelle Millar Fisher

Michelle Millar Fisher is the Ronald C. and Anita L. Wornick Curator of Contemporary Decorative Arts at the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), Boston. Previously, she worked at MoMA, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Guggenheim Museum. Her work is focused on the intersections of people, power, and the material world. At the MFA, she is working on “Craft Schools: Where We Make What We Inherit,” which took her on a train journey across all 48 contiguous US states. She leads an independent team on a book, touring exhibition, and program series called Designing Motherhood: Things That Make and Break Our Births. She holds an M.A. and an M.Phil in art history from the University of Glasgow, Scotland, and received an M.Phil from the CUNY Graduate Center at the City University of New York, where she is completing her Ph.D. She publishes widely on art, design, and architecture.

Fernando Laposse

Fernando Laposse is a Mexican designer who specializes in transforming humble natural materials into refined design pieces. He has worked extensively with overlooked plant fibers indigenous to Mexico, such as sisal, loofah, and corn leaves. His works are the result of periods of research that are developed into objects where materials and their historical and cultural ties to a particular location and its people take center stage. He often works with local Indigenous communities and addresses topics such as the environmental crisis, the loss of biodiversity, and migration through the transformative power of design. He invests time in research to create pieces that not only showcase these materials but also reflect their connection to the culture and history of places and their people. Laposse works with Indigenous communities in Mexico to help create jobs and bring attention to the challenges members of these communities face in today’s world.

2025 Special Thanks

The National Design Awards are made possible by:

Shelby & Frederick Gans
Jon Iwata
Lisa Roberts & David Seltzer
Alexandra & Paul Herzan
Chris & Irma Fralic
Kim Schuessler
List in formation

National Design Award trophies are created by the Corning Museum of Glass.