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Green Butterfly chair by Studio Plastic

DDP Design Fair reveals DDP Best Design Award winners for 2021

Dezeen promotion: a green 3D-printed chair and tubular lamp are among the seven products to win a DDP Best Design Award at the DDP Design Fair 2021.

The DDP Best Design Award winners programme takes place annually at the DDP Design Fair in South Korea to celebrate new products by emerging businesses and designers in Seoul.

Each of the seven winners was selected from 106 products exhibited at the fair in the furniture, lighting and living categories.

A bird's eye view of the DDP Design Fair
The DDP Design Fair (above) has revealed the winners of DDP Best Design Award winners which includes the 3D-printed Butterfly chair by Studio Plastic (top)

DDP Design Fair is "the largest design-business launching show" in South Korea, according to its organisers.

This year it was held in the Dongdaemun Design Plaza and curated under the theme of "Wonderful Life, the beauty in everyday life makes our lives much happier".

A photograph of the Tubular lamp
Light Now No 1 by Makemake and Hwangduck Engineering is another winner

The DDP Best Design Award has two categories: The Seoul Mayor Award and The Seoul Design Foundation CEO Award. Winners are all selected on what attracted the most attention of both local people and design experts during the fair.

A winner of the DDP Best Design Award was The Butterfly chair by Studio Plastic. It is made using 3D-printing technology and is intended to perfectly fit the user's body for maximum comfort.

A photograph of an incense stick holder by DSLSM
An incense stick holder by DSLSM was also a winner of the DDP Best Design Award

"We developed a chair customised to individual body types, suited to the era of hyper-personalisation," Studio Plastic said.

The winning chair has a bright green finish, and the studio will continue to develop a range with a more diverse range of colours.

Terracotta and porcelain flower pots
Terracotta pots by Studio Mindeulae and Sun ui mi Ceramic received The Seoul Design Foundation CEO Award

Light Now No 1, a tabletop lamp that can also be wall-mounted, was another winner of the prestigious award. It is the second year that the product has won the prize.

Designed by Makemake and Hwangduck Engineering, the lamp has a slender pipe-like form, which is designed to maximise its versatility.

An incense stick holder by DSLSM also won the DDP Best Design Award. According to DSLSM, the product is intended "to help people in this era of isolation, due to Covid-19, empty their minds and focus on one important matter by burning incense".

modular furniture by TTTT and Give&Take
Modular furniture by TTTT and Give&Take was another winner

A set of flower pots made from a combination of white porcelain and terracotta was also an award-winning design.

Designed by Studio Mindeulae and Sun ui mi Ceramic, the pots have a top-heavy form that references plum blossom.

A photograph of a black chair
A chair inspired by traditional Korean furniture also won a prize

A range of modular furniture that can be tailored to flat or uneven surfaces and a chair inspired by traditional Korean furniture were also named winners.

These were created by TTTT and Give&Take, and Afterminutes and Outro respectively.

polyhedron-shaped lamp
The final winner was a polyhedron-shaped lamp

A light created by Intenxiv and Sejeonsa using 3D-printing technology was also named a winning product. It takes the form of a polyhedron that centers around a long tubular light source.

The DDP Best Design Award programme is now in its third year. Winning teams will now receive marketing support, which includes a prize fund of 6,000,000 KRW (3,792 GBP) for the mass production of their product.

All seven winning products will also be launched at the DDP Design Store and exhibited on the fair's online platform.


Partnership content

This article was written by Dezeen for DDP Design Fair as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.