Seoul names 10 winners at inaugural 2026 Seoul Design Honors awards
Seoul Design Awards logo / Courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Government
Seoul named 10 individuals and companies as recipients of its inaugural Seoul Design Honors, recognizing projects that have improved public spaces, strengthened the city's identity and made everyday life safer and more accessible for residents.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government held the first 2026 Seoul Design Honors ceremony Tuesday at City Hall, presenting mayoral commendations to four individuals and six companies selected from 49 nominations.
The honors were established to recognize contributions to design development and encourage work that puts people at the center of urban design, drawing inspiration from two Korean cultural achievements: the angbuilgu, an ancient sundial, and "Hunminjeongeum," the original Korean alphabet.
The individual recipients are Kim Hyun-jung, Jung Mi, Ahn Jang-won and Cho Yong-jun, all of whom have done work that has helped shape major public spaces and improve the city's design standards.
Their projects include improvements to the Han River waterfront, lighting designs for landmark buildings, safety design guidelines, public information systems and urban landscaping projects.
Six companies were also recognized for design initiatives with practical benefits for Seoul residents: Gonggong Gonggan, Green Development, Noroo Paint, Virus Design, Sheria and Studio MXD.
Their work includes developing shared community gardens, expanding universal design, creating accessible products for people with disabilities and older residents and developing safety designs for people with color vision deficiencies.
The honors followed a two-stage evaluation by panels of experts comprising design professors, industry representatives and officials from relevant organizations, followed by verification of nominees' achievements.
Baek Jin-kyung, chair of the judging panel and head of the Korea Federation of Design Associations, said, "This evaluation focused on the tangible changes that achievements in various fields, including design policy and institutional development, strengthening urban brands, creating urban spaces and solving social problems, have brought to citizens' lives."
Choi In-kyu, Seoul's design policy director, said, "I sincerely congratulate and thank the first recipients for their efforts to advance Seoul's design in their respective fields."
"We will continue providing policy support so that creative design activities can flourish and their benefits can spread widely throughout citizens' daily lives," he said.
This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.