The Design Guild Mark Awards Ceremony 2026 takes places on Tuesday 19th May 2026 in the Arper UK showroom during Clerkenwell Design Week, celebrating the latest designs and the pioneering designers shaping the industry across Furniture, Interior Design Elements, and Lighting.
The Design Guild Mark is a non-profit awards programme established in 2008 by The Furniture Makers’ Company to champion British industrial design and recognise outstanding achievement within the sector. Originally focused solely on Furniture, the programme has since expanded to include categories for Interior Design Elements and Lighting.
Entries are evaluated by a diverse panel of judges against a series of key criteria, including innovation, functionality, form, brand impact and environmental responsibility.
The ceremony will be hosted by Alexander Crofts, CEO of Crofts & Assinder and Chairman of the Design Guild Mark, with honorary guest Andrew Tanner, Head of Design at Habitat, who will celebrate design excellence with the presentation of The Jonathan Hindle Prize. The accolade recognises the most innovative and creative entries from the year. While sustainability continues to be viewed as an essential standard within the industry, this year’s submissions demonstrated that environmental responsibility does not need to compromise innovation, aesthetics, or creativity.
What sets the Design Guild Mark apart is its hands-on judging process. Applicants are required to present their physical product in person, allowing for detailed discussion and direct engagement with the judging panel. Comprised of internationally respected industry leaders, the independent panel brings extensive expertise and insight to the evaluation of every submission.
Alex Crofts, chairman of the Design Guild Mark, commented:
“This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Design Guild Mark Awards programme – two decades dedicated to championing UK design as a leading global creative force. The calibre and diversity of this year’s entries once again demonstrate the strength of British design talent, bringing together designers at every stage of their careers through a shared commitment to excellence, innovation, and craftsmanship. As we celebrate this milestone year, each Design Guild Mark recipient should take great pride in having their work recognised as part of the gold standard for British design.”
The 2026 product selection is as follows:
| Furniture Name | Designer | Manufacturer |
| FLW | Samuel Wilkinson | SCP |
| Work | Matthew Hilton | SCP |
| Archer | Marcus Long | SCP |
| Levity Collection | Gaze Burvill | Gaze Burvill |
| Leandesk | Henry Swanzy | Leandesk |
| The Chanterelle Collection of low tables | Staffan Tollgård & Filippo Castellani | Giorgetti |
| Knit One | Paul Crofts of Paul Crofts Studio | Isomi |
| The Ayton Collection | Michael Mcintosh | Treske Ltd |
| The Canopy Collection | Sam Cooper & Richard Platt | The Marchmont Workshop |
| Mollu | Sophie Concadoro, Nare Manuelyan & Ross Mclean
|
Pineapple Contracts |
| Sail | Studio Webb | Glimarka of Sweden AB |
| Alta | Jones + Partners | Workstories
|
| Sylva | Jones + Partners | Stiwood |
| Panda System | Monica Förster | Modus |
| PLC Tube | Pearson Lloyd | Modus |
| Dowel Table | Ed Carpenter & André Klauser | VG&P Ltd |
| Genie Chair | Mentsen | VG&P Ltd |
| Aarea | Pearson Lloyd | Teknion |
|
Interior Elements: |
||
| The White Hart Collection
|
Emma Sims Hilditch and Marlborough Tiles | Marlborough Tiles |
| Fenchurch Handle Range | Zoran Matijevic | Crofts & Assinder |
| Skomer Handle Range | Zoran Matijevic | Crofts & Assinder |
| Pattern Play | Heather Lloyd | Milliken Carpets |
|
Lighting: |
||
| The Modernist Collection
|
Joe Armitage | Joe Armitage |
Alex Crofts, chairman of the Design Guild Mark, comments further:
“One of the defining strengths of the Design Guild Mark Awards is the opportunity for British designers and their work to be recognised by such a distinguished and diverse judging panel. To be selected for the Jonathan Hindle Prize from among this year’s outstanding submissions is an exceptional achievement – a huge accolade that reflects the creativity, innovation and excellence at the heart of British design. It is an honour that should inspire immense pride in this year’s winner.”
| Judges for 2026 | |
| Jeremy Myerson | Worktech Academy Professor |
| Campbell Thompson | Pineapple Contacts |
| Tom Pearce | Farrah & Pearce |
| Joanna Biggs | Sherliker Biggs – Hospitality Interior Design Consultant |
| Kyle Scorgie | JPA Design |
| Daniel Hopwood | Studio Hopwood |
| Natasha Marshall | Natasha Marshall Interiors Ltd |
| Corrine Pringle | TP Bennett |
| Clare Johnston | Royal College Of Art |
| Emma Sewell | Wallace Sewell |
| Simon Alderson | TwentyTwentyOne |
| Sebastion Wrong | The Wrong Shop |
With thanks to our sponsors Crofts & Assinder
About the Design Guild Mark:
The programme is different, it is not a competition with a ranking of entries and a single winner; instead, it is given to all designs that demonstrate to the judges that they represent the highest standards of originality and innovation in industrial design.
The Mark is open to designers working in Britain or British designers working abroad and entries for all categories can be for designs intended for domestic, office, hospitality, educational or corporate use, and for interior and exterior environments. Submissions can be for an individual product or a collection of products that are currently in production, that were designed for, and are manufactured by, an industrial design process. There is no restriction on when the design was launched.
The Design Guild Mark is judged by a panel of leading industry professionals. Each member of the panel is from the furniture, lighting, hospitality, commercial, retail, textiles or academic industry.
Recipients of the Mark will benefit from increased industry and consumer awareness, press and social media coverage, with the designers and companies behind them also receiving enhanced brand recognition.
Furniture Makers’ Hall
12 Austin Friars EC2N 2HE 020 7256 5558