GOOD DESIGN NEW HOPE AWARD for Students and New Graduates Mushroom-based Sprouting Blocks MYMORI Wins the Grand Award!

About the GOOD DESIGN NEW HOPE AWARD

The GOOD DESIGN NEW HOPE AWARD aims to facilitate activities for the younger generation who will lead the future of design. Founded in 2022, this is its second year.

This award accepts entries from students and new graduates in all fields, not limited to art university students. With no designated theme, many applicants sent various designs created in the form of their university assignments, graduation works, and self-study works.

This year, we received 415 entries in total. After the first screening panel on August 25, 78 applicants out of 415 received an honorable mention and eight excellent award winners were announced on October 24.

At the final screening panel on November 18, the grand award winner was selected after presentations by the eight excellent award winners.

Grand award winner Beyond Alternative Biomaterials―Sprouting Blocks MYMORI

Beyond Alternative Biomaterials―Sprouting Blocks MYMORI won this year’s grand award. MYMORI is a play kit for children to play freely blocks made from mycelium, a structure forming the root of a fungus.

With a simplified mushroom-growing process, this kit allows anyone to grow mushrooms and make blocks by molding the material. With this fascinating toy, children can feel a scent of nature from the mushrooms, experience joy and attachment as the mushrooms grow, and discover their own ways of enjoying them. This is a sustainable product, returning to the soil in the end.

The grand award winner Yawen Xiang, of the Department of Creative Innovation, College of Creative Thinking for Social Innovation, Musashino Art University, presented the possibility of enjoying making things by using biomaterials in a novel manner.

Xiang stated that the title “Beyond Alternative Biomaterials” expressed her wish to make a change in the lifestyle of society by using biomaterials as the main ingredients, and facilitating active creation by fostering attachment to the material itself.

This product aims to expand the path of truly creative manufacturing through play using biomaterials, which have not been familiar to users.

Finalists speak in their own words about familiar issues faced by society

Meanwhile, the seven excellent award winners, who narrowly missed the grand award, presented their works showcasing the power of design. All the works were rooted in their own elaborate perspectives to solve issues faced by individuals or people close to them, or were as a result of small discoveries.

Each presenter had 5 minutes to talk. Following each presentation, 11 judges asked the presenter questions. After all the eight presentations concluded, the judges undertook the final screening discussion to determine the grand award winner. Then, an award ceremony and celebration were held.

Take the next step with NEW HOPE AWARD

At the award ceremony, chairperson Seiichi Saito encouraged the broadening of perspectives by gaining experience. Furthermore, he concluded this year’s screening by saying, “Even after your design target expands from a single person to hundreds, always remember the spirit of caring ‘for a certain person’ you presented today.”

Award winners and judges interacted with each other at the award celebration. Participating in the NEW HOPE AWARD rewards candidates with a “community” where various people interact, create new synergies, and find new opportunities to improve.

Award winners will also attend award promotions and design workshops.