The 2026 Good Design awards in Australia have recognised a range of innovative projects, from an off-grid home dubbed 'the impossible build' to a lamp designed to ease stress and aid sleep. The recipients were praised for providing thoughtful solutions to both extraordinary and everyday scenarios.
Architecture and Engineering Excellence
Wagstaffe by Elsewhere Pods won the good design award for engineering. The off-grid home on the NSW Central Coast consists of two modular flatpack pods totalling 14m in width, set on a 20-degree bushland slope. The jury recognised it as 'a highly effective response to difficult site conditions with minimal environmental disruption'.
Health and Wellness Innovations
Resonance by Whipshaw took the best in class award for medical and scientific product design. The lamp senses the heart's rhythm and emits gentle pulses of light to guide its owner towards resonant breathing, a natural rhythm clinically proven to restore calm and focus. The jury called the design 'a rare example of advanced technology that is both invisible and deeply human'.
Ovi by Ellyn Wong Wan Wen won the good design award for designers under 30. This slip-cast porcelain cooling vessel preserves a baby for three days after early pregnancy loss, allowing parents to transport, hold a funeral and grieve outside the hospital setting. Judges commended Wan Wen for her 'deeply sensitive' and 'genuinely original' project, noting the robust depth of research into morgues and consultation with midwives, gynaecologists and therapists.
Everyday Solutions and Sustainability
Hivekeepers Micro Honey Harvester by Katapult Design took the gold award for commercial and industrial product. This cassette-based system simplifies beekeeping harvesting, minimising cleanup, labour and disruption to the bees. The judges called it an 'outstanding example of human-centered design' that 'opens honey harvesting to a much broader audience'.
Looplock by Bound, Default Office and Purpose Design Lab won the gold award for housewares and objects design. The hermetic, roll-top seal for packaged foods addresses the daily challenge of food preservation while maintaining original packaging information, including expiry dates and nutrition data.
Groundworks by Terrain won the gold award for built environment installation design. This sculptural seating environment for Bizarro's Mode music festival on Wareamah/Cockatoo Island uses grass, hay, jute and hessian with near-zero waste methodologies, demonstrating 'genuine understanding of nature's capacity to evoke calm'.
Children's Tech and Assistive Design
Yoto Mini by Heirloom won the best-in-class award for consumer electronics design. This portable audio player for children does away with screens, cameras, AI and automation; audio plays when a physical Yoto card is inserted and pauses when removed. The jury praised Heirloom for addressing 'screen fatigue among young people while encouraging independent, tactile interaction through storytelling'.
The Oasis Shower Chair by Ennova Design won the best-in-class award for furniture and lighting design. Designed for people needing greater stability in the shower due to age or disability, the chair features flexible armrests, soft silicone seating and compact portability. Judges praised the 'thoughtful and socially impactful re-imagining of assistive furniture'.
Healthcare and Urban Retreats
Rescope by Tony Harrison won the gold award for designers under 30 with a modular endoscope that isolates the contaminated insertion section, allowing the majority of the device to be reused. Harrison's design addresses a major sustainability challenge in Australian healthcare.
Quiet Studio by Studiobird with Autex Acoustics & Universal Practice won the good design award for built environment installation design. This temporary structure, presented during Melbourne Design Week in 2025, offers a refuge from urban life on the streets of Collingwood, demonstrating how sound, materiality and spatial sequencing can be combined to create measurable wellbeing outcomes.
