From a dining chair eight parts wide and decades in the thinking to a gastronomic retail world anchored by a living atrium, this year’s 420 entries from 46 countries arrived with something to say about how we sit, gather, and inhabit the spaces around us.
Switzerland – The SIT Furniture Design Award has announced the winners of its 2026 edition, celebrating the designers, architects, and creative thinkers who continue to push the boundaries of how we furnish and inhabit space. This year, 420 projects from 46 countries entered the competition across categories spanning furniture innovation and spatial design, and the jury was tasked with identifying work that goes beyond craft — work that changes how we think about the objects and environments around us.
Nexo by Kabo & Pydo design studio
The Furniture Design of the Year title goes to Ignacio Merino for the Mezza Chair — a three-legged dining chair that distils an 18th-century Alpine seat typology into something quietly radical. Compact at just 26 cm deep, cantilevered on twin rails for visual lightness, with a curved backrest that grows from the front legs and eight interlocking beech-wood parts joined by a T-junction beneath the seat, the Mezza Chair achieves structural rigour through elegant simplicity. Sourced from legally harvested European beech, it is a piece where every decision serves both form and purpose.
The Interior Design of the Year award goes to A Work of Substance for House of Shinsegae, located in the Gangnam flagship of Shinsegae Inc. in Seoul, South Korea. Designed by Maxime Dautresme and Seoyoon K, the project transforms a conventional retail floor into something closer to a residence than a store — layered with solid timber warmth, brass and high-gloss lacquer contrast, deep jewel-toned upholstery, and a circadian lighting system that shifts with the arc of the day. At its centre, a reimagined atrium acts as a social anchor rather than a transitional space. The guiding concept — discovery as ritual — turns shopping into spatial storytelling, and does so without a single superfluous gesture.
Emerging talent is equally celebrated in this year’s edition. The Emerging Furniture Designer of the Year title goes to Allyssa Kim, a student at Musashino Art University in Tokyo, for Pitta — a folding chair that challenges everything ordinary about the category. Where most folding chairs resign themselves to looking temporary, Pitta holds its presence whether open or closed. Its U-shaped laminated wood leg folds cleanly into the frame, creating a silhouette that is both structurally sound and quietly distinctive. The form is the function, and the function is the design.
Pitta by Allyssa Kim
The selection was made by a distinguished international jury of designers, educators, and creative leaders, including Josh Owen (President at Josh Owen LLC), Alain Gilles ( Founder and Lead Designer at Alain Gilles The Studio) Lilian González-González (Anáhuac University of México / World Design Organization), Jeremy Myerson (Royal College of Art / WORKTECH Academy), Richie Moalosi (Director at University Innovation Pod (UniPod) at the University of Botswana ), Sarah Hossli ( Founder & Product Designer of Sarah Hossli Product Design), Javier Palomares (Principal at Curve Ahead Desing), Daisuke Nagatomo (Associate Professor at the Department of Design, National Taiwan Normal University), among others. Their breadth of expertise — spanning product design, spatial practice, and design education across five continents — reflects the global ambition of the award.
“What strikes me most each year is how different the winners are from one another — and how that difference is exactly the point. Some designs strip everything back until only what matters remains. Others build entire worlds from a single concept. That tension between reduction and abundance, between the handcrafted and the experiential — that’s where furniture and interior design are most alive. SIT exists to find work like this, wherever in the world it comes from.” — Astrid Hébert, Co-Founder, SIT Furniture Design Award.
House of Shinsegae by A Work of SubstanceThe 2026 program also drew a rich field of work across all categories, reflecting the award’s continued reach across disciplines and geographies. The full list of winners and honorable mentions is available at www.sitaward.com.