The LONG LIFE DESIGN AWARD is given to standard-setting designs which have been supported by many people over a long time. Applications for the 2026 awards are being accepted from April 1. We accept not only applications from companies on behalf of their own products, but also nominations from you, the users, for the products that you have been using regularly for a long time, or the designs that you particularly like. In this article, we introduce the LONG LIFE DESIGN AWARD and award winning objects throughout its history.

The 2026 GOOD DESIGN AWARD marks the 70th year since the awards were set up. A new team of judges was announced in March, and Jun Nakagawa (Manager/Consultant; Representative of VISION to STRUCTURE, Representative of PARaDE) took up the post of Chair. The selection of Nakagawa, who is the former President of Nakagawa Masashichi Shoten Co., Ltd. and has spent a long time in the world of business, to lead the screening for a design award can be seen as highly unusual, even from a historical perspective. On the occasion of his appointment, Nakagawa said that he would like to strengthen the aspect of the GOOD DESIGN AWARD as “a place where managers and designers work together.” How will we pass on the value that the GOOD DESIGN AWARD has built up to date, and what challenges will we take on in order to meet the next era? Together with Seiichi Saito, who served as Chair for 3 years from fiscal 2023 to fiscal 2025 before passing the baton to Nakagawa, he told us about where we are now and the future.