The Asia Pacific Space Designers Association (APSDA) has announced the winners of the inaugural APSDA Awards 2021. At the virtual ceremony, held on 30 October 2021, a total of 51 winners were announced under the two main categories, namely “Projects of the Year” and “Personality of the Year”.
“Projects of the Year” were classified under 8 broad categories, namely hospitality, public, retail, food & beverages, entertainment & leisure, exhibition, work as well as residential. “Personality of the Year” were classified under 4 categories, namely designer, young designer, design educator as well as design journalist. This year, “Personality of the Year” was awarded to Steve Leung.
In his closing speech, Keat Ong, chairman of the APSDA said, “Quality interior designers and design projects from the Asia Pacific region are increasingly gaining more global exposure as compared to say a decade ago. Popular architectural and design websites have started to feature more and more of Asia Pacific’s designers’ works and many prominent names have emerged as staples at the highest global level.”
Judged by a panel of prominent individuals from the interior design industry, the biannual APSDA Awards recognizes the ingenuity and hard work of the recipients.
“Being one of the judges in the APSDA Awards this year was a delight. At first, the task ahead seemed daunting but as I became absorbed in the various categories and specialisations, I came to feel privileged indeed to be given such an intimate view of colleagues’ work. This was especially so at a time when projects of any scale were a challenge. I was particularly impressed with the efforts of the smaller nations such as Bhutan trying so hard to elevate design standards in their communities,” said Professor Desmond Freeman, LFDIA. “As is often the case, there were standout projects so creatively and imaginatively done that I had to review them a few times to fully understand their subtlety and complexity. These were the projects where the concept was fresh and appropriate for the setting and purpose, where the scale and planning worked and where every last detail was clearly part of an integrated whole. Thank you for the invitation to be part of this very impressive Awards scheme.”
Honoured to judge the inaugural APSDA Award, Alison Chi from Tonychi Studio said, “It was an honour and privilege for me to participate as judge in this year’s APSDA Awards 2021. As a judge, it gave me great pleasure to see beautifully composed spaces in the project submissions for all categories. I was continuously reminded how design can achieve harmony in a space for all aspects of our lives in our homes, offices, schools and our daily interactions and activities. I consider every project a winner for the time, efforts and exploration to see a vision and concept come to life. Congratulations to all the participants for your dedication and guidance to usher in the next generation for our beloved hospitality design industry.”
The event was sponsored by Aoyama Design Forum (ADF) and Luxx Newhouse Group.
