The 2026 National Design Awards, orchestrated by the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, have once again set a benchmark for innovation and impact in the design world. Established in 2000 as an official project of the White House Millennium Council, this prestigious program honors the transformative power of design across ten distinct categories . This year’s cohort of winners is not merely a collection of aesthetically pleasing projects; it is a powerful statement on the evolving role of design as a civic practice, a tool for climate justice, and a medium for cultural storytelling . As the United States commemorates its 250th anniversary, the 2026 awards have taken on an even greater significance, celebrating a legacy of American ingenuity while casting a visionary eye toward the future .
The 2026 Winners: A Comprehensive Overview
The selection process for the National Design Awards is rigorous, involving a multidisciplinary jury of practitioners, educators, and leaders from a wide range of design fields . Chaired by Aric Chen, director of the Zaha Hadid Foundation, the 2026 jury reviewed numerous nominations to select the final ten recipients . The winners were officially honored at the Smithsonian National Design Awards Gala on May 19, 2026, in New York City, an event that brought together over 300 leaders from the design, cultural, business, and philanthropic communities .
Here is the complete list of the 2026 National Design Award winners:
A. Design Visionary: Robert Earl Paige
B. Climate Action: Estudio Teddy Cruz + Fonna Forman (UCSD Community Stations)
C. Emerging Designer: Mattaforma
D. Architecture: Frida Escobedo Studio
E. Communication Design: Thought Matter
F. Digital Design: Laura Kurgan
G. Fashion Design: Josh Tafoya
H. Interior Design: Charlap Hyman & Herrero
I. Landscape Architecture: Ten Eyck Landscape Architects
J. Product Design: Berea College Student Craft
A Closer Look at the Winners
A. Design Visionary: Robert Earl Paige
Robert Earl Paige’s career is a masterclass in dissolving the boundaries between fine art, craft, and design. His work is a testament to the belief that design should be accessible to all, not just an elite few . In the 1970s, Paige made a monumental impact with his Dakkabar Collection, a line of home furnishings inspired by West African textiles that was sold in over 100 Sears stores nationwide . This move introduced Black visual culture into the mainstream American home at an unprecedented scale. Repurposing is central to his practice; he transforms found materials like cardboard and fibers into objects that invite curiosity and engagement . Paige’s involvement in the Black Arts Movement further underscores his commitment to community engagement, making him a true visionary whose influence spans decades .
B. Climate Action: Estudio Teddy Cruz + Fonna Forman
The Climate Action award was presented to Estudio Teddy Cruz + Fonna Forman for their transformative project, the UCSD Community Stations . This initiative reframes climate action not as a technological fix, but as a civic infrastructure rooted in social equity . Distributed along the U.S.-Mexico border, these stations function as research hubs, cultural venues, and community spaces designed in partnership with local organizations on both sides of the wall . By integrating university resources directly into border communities, the project addresses the interdependencies of migration, housing, and ecology. It serves as a powerful model for how design can foster resilience and collective agency in vulnerable regions . Both Teddy Cruz and Fonna Forman are professors at the University of California San Diego, with Cruz in the Department of Visual Arts and Forman as the founding director of the Center on Global Justice .
C. Emerging Designer: Mattaforma
Mattaforma, founded by Lindsey Wikstrom, represents a new generation of architectural practice grounded in material ethics and ecological consciousness . The studio’s work begins not with digital renderings, but with field research—mapping local forests, quarries, and farms to understand the ecological and cultural histories embedded in materials . Specializing in mass-timber construction and plant-based systems, Mattaforma designs buildings for disassembly and reuse, ensuring flexibility and resilience over time . Their projects, which range from rapid-build pavilions to open-air classrooms that change function with the seasons, blur the lines between architecture and landscape . Their work makes climate action tangible and communal, inviting policymakers and the public to co-author a plant-based future .
D. Architecture: Frida Escobedo Studio
Frida Escobedo Studio, founded in 2006, has garnered international acclaim for its use of restraint as a critical tool . Escobedo’s work, with offices in Mexico City and New York, uses simple forms to reveal the complex forces—such as colonial histories and social rituals—that shape public space . Her approach resists spectacle in favor of resonance, creating powerful spatial experiences through attention and precision . This philosophy has led to a series of high-profile commissions, including her appointment as lead designer of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s new Modern and Contemporary Art Wing in 2022, the renovation of the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and the design of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Doha . Escobedo is a Harvard GSD alumna (MDes ’12) .
E. Communication Design: Thought Matter
Thought Matter, a New York-based studio founded in 2015 by Tom Jaffe and led by Jessie McGuire, operates at the intersection of design and civic life . The studio specializes in translating dense cultural, political, and institutional narratives into forms that invite participation rather than passive consumption . Working with clients such as the Met, the New York Historical, and various advocacy groups, Thought Matter uses brand identities, campaigns, and digital platforms to reframe narratives and shift perspectives . Their work demonstrates how communication design can function as a shared civic space, activating publics and surfacing overlooked histories .
F. Digital Design: Laura Kurgan
Laura Kurgan is a designer and educator who has pioneered the use of spatial computation, data visualization, and digital cartography to expose structural injustice . Trained as an architect, Kurgan has been at the forefront of using emerging technologies for social good. Her projects, such as mapping incarceration patterns in Million Dollar Blocks and migration flows in Exit, help visualize systemic inequalities . At Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, she founded and directs the M.S. in Computational Design Practices program and the Center for Spatial Research, where she emphasizes critical engagement with digital tools to uncover hidden spatial logics . Her work insists that working creatively with data is essential to the pursuit of social justice .
G. Fashion Design: Josh Tafoya
Josh Tafoya’s work challenges the sanitized myths of “Southwestern” style by re-centering Indigenous knowledge and lived experience . Drawing on his Genizaro, Spanish, and Chicano heritage, Tafoya’s textiles and garments blend ancestral weaving traditions from the Rio Grande Valley with a raw, contemporary sensibility . After returning to Taos, New Mexico, in 2020 to launch his namesake brand, Tafoya has positioned fashion as a site of cultural continuity rather than trend cycles . His work demonstrates how craft can operate as both preservation and innovation, anchored in place yet forward-looking, ensuring the traditional crafts of New Mexico live on in a contemporary world .
H. Interior Design: Charlap Hyman & Herrero
Charlap Hyman & Herrero, founded in 2014, treat interiors not as simple backdrops but as narrative spaces shaped by memory and performance . With studios in Los Angeles, New York, and Mexico City, the firm blurs disciplinary boundaries with ease, working across architecture, exhibitions, retail, and set design . Their interiors are unapologetically expressive yet deeply researched, drawing on historical references without nostalgia . By engaging the hidden histories of spaces, the practice expands what interior design can be: not decoration, but storytelling through material and form .
I. Landscape Architecture: Ten Eyck Landscape Architects
For nearly three decades, Ten Eyck Landscape Architects (TELA) has practiced a form of landscape architecture rooted in ecological care and community healing . Based in Austin, Texas, with origins in Phoenix, Arizona, the firm takes a regional approach to the landscapes of the American Southwest . They prioritize native plant species, water harvesting technologies, and durable materials to transform overlooked sites into vibrant environments that stimulate the senses and unify communities . Their work demonstrates that beauty is not ornamental but is a form of ecological resilience made visible and shared .
J. Product Design: Berea College Student Craft
Berea College Student Craft stands apart from conventional product design studios by placing education and equity at its core . As part of the college’s tuition-free work program—founded on principles of equity, inclusion, and justice—students from all academic disciplines design, prototype, and produce thousands of objects annually . The program treats making as a form of intellectual inquiry, where failure is expected and safety and support are paramount for student development . In an era of automation, Berea’s model reasserts the value of hands-on knowledge and material literacy as democratic skills .
The 2026 National Design Awards Gala: A Historic Celebration
The 2026 awards were particularly momentous, as they coincided with the 250th anniversary of the United States . For the first time in the award’s history, the winners were celebrated alongside a distinguished group of Gala Honorees recognized for their transformative contributions to design over the past two and a half centuries .
The list of 2026 Gala Honorees included both contemporary figures and historical pioneers:
Contemporary Honorees:
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Adobe
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Thom Browne
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Tory Burch
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Tiffany & Co.
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Maya Lin
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Jenna Lyons
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MillerKnoll
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MacKenzie Scott
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Martha Stewart
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Target
Historic Honorees:
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Peter Cooper: Industrialist, philanthropist, and founder of Cooper Union.
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Frederick Law Olmsted: Pioneer of American landscape architecture and designer of Central Park.
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Louis Sullivan: Father of the modern skyscraper.
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Candace Wheeler: Pioneer of American interior and textile design.
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Frank Lloyd Wright: Visionary of American architecture .
The gala served as Cooper Hewitt’s premier fundraising event, supporting the museum’s exhibitions, educational initiatives, and stewardship of its national design collection of over 215,000 objects . The event was also anchored by two major exhibitions: Design Across Time, a presentation of treasures from the permanent collection, and Made in America, a photographic exploration of American manufacturing .
Conclusion: Design as a Force for Change
The 2026 National Design Awards paint a clear picture of the current state and future trajectory of design. As journalist commentary has noted, this year’s winners are united less by a specific style than by a shared stance: that design is a public act that redistributes power, makes inequities visible, and reclaims beauty as a shared resource . From Robert Earl Paige’s work on accessibility to Estudio Teddy Cruz + Fonna Forman’s cross-border climate action, and from Mattaforma’s ecological construction to Josh Tafoya’s cultural preservation, the winners demonstrate that the most powerful design is that which engages the world as it is—and designs toward what it could be . The 2026 National Design Awards have not only honored excellence but have also redefined what excellence means in the context of a rapidly changing world.
