Organizer Information
KOKUYO Co., Ltd. is a Japanese manufacturer headquartered in Osaka, led by Representative Corporate Officer and President Hidekuni Kuroda. The company is best known internationally for stationery, office furniture, and workplace and lifestyle products. According to the source material, KOKUYO DESIGN AWARD was founded more than 24 years ago as an international product design competition built around the idea of co-creation: rather than functioning purely as a prize, the award is structured so that winning designs can be developed into commercial products through collaboration between the award winners and KOKUYO's own product developers. More than 20 designs have been productized through the award to date. The company describes the program as an evolving project intended to communicate values reflecting the times, rather than a one-off selection-and-award exercise, and notes that it renewed its corporate logo as part of a broader corporate identity update in the past year.
Title & Description
KOKUYO DESIGN AWARD 2027
KOKUYO DESIGN AWARD 2027 is an international product design competition organized by KOKUYO Co., Ltd., open to designers in Japan and overseas. The 2027 edition is built around the theme "dialogue," which the organizer frames around the reciprocal relationships that sit behind strong design: between the people who create objects and the people who use them, between users and objects, and between objects and their surrounding environment. Entrants are invited to reexamine these relationships and look for new insight in what the organizer calls the "maai" — the space or interval — that emerges from this exchange, using "dialogue" as a starting point to expand the possibilities of living, learning, and working.
As in previous editions, KOKUYO Co., Ltd. will also present the NEW GENERATION AWARD, a separate award selected from among all submitted works by students, ranging from elementary school through graduate school, intended to recognize emerging designers with the hope that they will go on to achieve significant things in their careers.
The source material notes that detailed entry guidelines for the 2027 edition had not yet been published at the time of this announcement, and specifically cautions that any entry guidelines currently visible on the KOKUYO DESIGN AWARD website reflect the prior year's competition rather than the 2027 edition. Full 2027 guidelines were stated to be posted on July 24, 2026, the same day entries open.
Theme
"Dialogue" — the reciprocal relationship behind good design, considered across three axes: between the creator of an object and its user, between the user and the object itself, and between the object and its surrounding environment. Entrants are asked to explore the "space" that emerges from this exchange and to expand the possibilities of living, learning, and working from that starting point.
Categories
- Design
- Industrial Design
- Interior Design
- Craft
- Multiple Disciplines
Eligibility
- Eligible entries: stationery, furniture, or tools used in working, learning, and living scenes
- Open to designers in Japan and overseas (international competition)
- No age, nationality, or professional-status restriction stated in the source for the general award categories
- NEW GENERATION AWARD is limited to submitted works by students, ranging from elementary school to graduate school level
- Specific entry eligibility criteria (e.g., individual vs. group entries, professional vs. amateur status) beyond the above were not specified in the source, pending publication of the full 2027 entry guidelines on July 24, 2026
Program Benefits & Awards
- Grand Prix (one winner): ¥2,000,000 (approximately $13,000)
- Merit Award (up to three winners): ¥500,000 (approximately $3,200) per winner
- NEW GENERATION Award (up to ten winners): ¥30,000 (approximately $200) per winner
- Prize money is paid net of withholding tax and the special income tax for reconstruction
- Prize money is paid in Japanese yen
- Potential for winning designs to be developed into commercial products through co-creation with KOKUYO's product development team, per the organizer's stated program model
- The source notes that not all prizes are guaranteed to be awarded; some awards may have no winner selected
Application Fee
None
How to Apply?
Online Application
Key Dates
- Registration & Submission period: July 24, 2026 (Friday) – October 7, 2026 (Wednesday)
- Announcement of winners: March 13, 2027 (Saturday), tentative
Location
Japan
Additional Details
- Judging panel: Shogo Kishino (Art Director and Graphic Designer), Gen Suzuki (Product Designer), Nao Tamura (Designer), Kunihiko Morinaga (ANREALAGE / Designer), Satoshi Yoshiizumi (Founder of TAKT PROJECT Inc. / Designer), and Hidekuni Kuroda (Representative Corporate Officer and President of KOKUYO Co., Ltd.)
- Judging points stated by the organizer: the idea is inspired by the entrant's unique perspective; the idea engages with a social issue; the idea has potential for real-world production
- The organizer notes that all entry guideline content currently posted on the KOKUYO DESIGN AWARD website (as of this announcement) reflects the previous year's competition and should not be relied on for the 2027 edition
- The organizer encourages following its social media channels for further updates