On the evening of September 10, the winners of the “Young Designer’s Prize 2026” competition were announced at the Lithuanian National Museum of Art’s Museum of Applied Arts and Design. During the festive ceremony, laureates in five categories were presented with awards, while an exhibition of the competition’s best works opened in the museum’s exhibition spaces.
Organized for the sixteenth time by the Vilnius Academy of Arts’ Design Innovation Centre, this year’s competition received 91 applications from five higher education institutions in Lithuania and abroad. Graduates of design programmes competed in five categories: product design, communication design, fashion design, interior design, and design research.
The submitted works were evaluated by an international jury of design experts: Willem van Hooff (the Netherlands), Antonio Lo Presti (Italy), Francesca Pedroni (Italy), Linda Lissola (Sweden), Giulia Procaccini (Italy), Miro Sabo (Slovakia), and Pärtel Vurma (Estonia).
The evaluation took place in two stages. In the first stage, the jury selected the 15 best works—three in each category. All 15 nominated works will be on display at the Lithuanian National Museum of Art’s Museum of Applied Arts and Design (3A Arsenalo St., Vilnius) until October 4.
In the second stage, after meeting the participants in person, the jury selected a winner in each category. The winners received €1,500 cash prizes, along with gifts from the competition’s sponsors, Fiskars Group and Jung. Nominees in the fashion design category also received annual licences for the CLO3D digital garment construction software.
The competition also featured the Audience Award. Visitors could vote for the project they liked most through the LRT.lt news portal.
Meet the winners
Audience award and Interior Design
Patricija Vaisova
Sound as a tool for spatial design: the case of the corridor
Vilnius Academy of Arts
Assoc prof. dr. Karolina Jašinskaitė
This project uses sound to change the experience of a corridor. The case study is the Interior Design Department corridor at the Vilnius Academy of Arts: a long, narrow and acoustically active transitional space. A temporary interactive platform made from reused pallets and steel sheets captures footsteps through microphones, processes them in real time and returns them as transformed sound. The visitor activates the system by stepping, pressing or stomping on the platform. Echo, delay and repetition shift the perception of distance, direction and boundaries while leaving the corridor physically unchanged.
Fashion Design
Jomilė Uksaitė
Fashion collection “Tolimė”
Vilnius Academy of Arts
Assoc. prof. Dainius Bendikas
“Tolimė” is an experimental fashion design collection that imagines the future human as both sheltered and vulnerable. Rooted in observations of growing up with screens, it reflects on how digital connection can turn into emotional distance, while the need for touch and empathy becomes stronger. The six looks unfold as a psychological ascent up a mountain, moving through withdrawal, fog, acclimatisation, vulnerability, and shared shelter. Body-enveloping silhouettes act as portable refuges; hand-developed textures, natural fibres, felted footwear, and climbing-inspired details evoke tactility, sensitivity and adaptability. Through this contrast, “Tolimė” explores privacy, intimacy and the search for connection.
Product design
Eva Zaveckaitė
From Personal Experience to Democratic Design: Furniture for Vehicle-Based Living
Vilnius Academy of Arts
Assoc. prof. Barbora Adamonytė-Keidūnė
Car[d]board is a short-term, seasonal travel furniture system made from honeycomb cardboard factory waste, designed for L1H1-type vans. As most van furniture is made for one specific model, the project searches for a more universal solution by comparing five widely used van models in Europe and identifying their shared spatial average. The lightweight flat-pack system can be inserted, removed and handled by one person, forming a 1500 × 2105 mm sleeping surface and about 370 litres of storage. Dry assembly uses no glue or permanent connectors, keeping the cardboard easier to recycle.
Communication Design
Kamilė Ražanskaitė
In Front of the Class computer game
Vilnius Academy of Arts
Assoc. prof. Marius Žalneravičius
“In Front of the Class” is a visual novel about the internalisation of shame. Targeted towards teenagers, it aims to ignite thoughts and conversations about shame, ways to deal with it and how emotions, if not dealt with properly, can become internalised and cause long-lasting issues. By choosing a character’s reactions to embarrassing situations, the player can influence how the game will end: will the character achieve their dream despite the challenging emotions, or will feelings of shame become part of their identity?
Design Research
Domantas Pigulevičius
Spekuliatyvus projektas „Palaimoje“
Vilniaus dailės akademija
Darbo vadovas doc. Marius Žalneravičius
Projekte „Palaimoje“ Lietuvos kolektyviniai sodai tyrinėjami kaip spekuliatyvi ateities erdvė. Šis istorinis reiškinys, kadaise įkūnijęs prieštaringą okupacinę politiką, šiandien, nors ir kitomis visuomeninėmis aplinkybėmis, toliau liudija dabarties kontekstą. Dėl šio gebėjimo atspindėti visuomenės būklę ir spekuliatyvaus potencialo kolektyvinių sodų fenomenas kūrinyje perkeliamas į ateitį ir tampa hipotetinio būsimojo pasaulio liudytoju. Čia pasakojama apie fiktyvią sodininkų bendriją „Palaima“ ir vieną jos gyventoją – Vilių Kukorą, kurio likime užkoduota ateities pasaulio padėtis.
More information about the competition: www.jdp.lt
Photos: Jorigė Kuzmaitė
Competition and exhibition organizer: Design Innovation Centre of Vilnius Academy of Arts
The competition is funded by the Lithuanian Council for Culture
Exhibition architecture: Vytautas Gečas and Emilija Kazakevičiūtė
Graphic design: Ugnė Balčiūnaitė
Curator: Daina Eičaitė
Partners: LNDM Museum of Applied Arts and Design, State Patent Bureau of the Republic of Lithuania, European Union Intellectual Property Office, intelektine.lt
Sponsors: Nordcurrent, Jung, Fiskars Group, CLO, Sip Sap, Dūmų fabrikas