After reflecting with the design community and partners, inside and outside our network, we are taking the next step in the multi-year development of the Awards by cementing the place of young designers at the heart of the conversation. They are crucial in defining how Dutch design continues to chart the way forward.

Moving forward, DDA strengthens the value of the Awards through three core pillars: a sharper focus, stronger community engagement, and a consistent spotlight on talent. This direction embraces a broader, more dynamic view of what design can achieve. 

DDA is committed to developing new avenues that recognise design as a force for transformation and possibility. Advancing the conversations on Dutch design means redefining its place within a broader context, opening up new possibilities for the discipline.

In this context, thinking of design through predefined categories no longer reflects the richness of today’s design landscape. 

This development allows the Awards to evolve with the world around them — staying true to the legacy while becoming a launchpad for emerging directions and ideas as important reference points for the future.

Young Designers grant a rare opportunity: to completely shift paradigms. Laid as the first foundation of the Awards, a focus on spotlighting emerging talent celebrates the potential impact and vital connections young designers bring to the future.

We will continue the format in which experienced designers spotlight exceptional talent throughout the year, grounded in active community involvement. Passing on the baton is one of the clearest ways to witness how Young Designers continue to reinvigorate the field with their fresh perspectives.

For this purpose, we continue our longstanding partnership with Keep an Eye Foundation, based on an unwavering support to Young Designers creating new opportunities. For 2025, we will spotlight three promising fresh talents across the field that embody the future of design, awarding them each with a €10.000 grant and a spotlight in the programme for Dutch Design Week 2025.

Do you have someone in mind for the 2025 Young Designer spotlight? Start thinking about who stands out. This year, you are invited to share the emerging talents you feel are shaping the discipline. Details will follow shortly.  

From now on, Dutch Design Awards communications will come from Dutch Design Foundation. Stay tuned for more on the best Dutch design.

dutchdesignawards.nl will continue to serve as an archive, where you can revisit 20 years of discourse around the best of Dutch design and the evolution of the discipline. This includes last year’s celebration of the rich history of Dutch Design Awards in a special exhibition during Dutch Design Week 2024, marking the start of this transition. The Dutch Design Awards archive offers not only a panoramic look at design embedded in our daily lives — sometimes almost imperceptibly, through systems, services, environments, and relationships — but also a space for dialogue, celebrating the variety of voices in a still-evolving ecosystem that spans more than two decades.

This next chapter is just getting started.