Jury Alumni

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  Manabu Tago

  President, Art Director and Designer, MTDO inc.

  2015 Packaging Jury Member

  Mr. Tago graduated from the Class-II Design Management program of Tokyo Zokei University.He was engaged in the design development of various home electrical appliances and information technology devices at Toshiba Design Center Corporation. Following a career at Toshiba, he served as design management director at REALFLEET Co., Ltd. Subsequently, he launched MTDO in 2008 to try and open up new areas up until now. He is currently engaged in design, direction and management throughout the entire process from concept creation to production in a wide range of industries.He is also the recipient of many awards: iF Product Design Award 2013 (GOLD), reddot Design Award Best of the Best 2013 and Design for Asia Award 2013 Grand Awardùjust to name a few.

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  Yuko Takagi

  Design Manager, The Coca-Cola Company

  2026 Packaging Jury Captain

  Yuko is a Tokyo-based designer and design director, currently a Design Manager at The Coca-Cola Company. She specializes in brand development, package design, and visual identity—bringing brands to life through clear and creative ideas.
  
  With over a decade of experience across both client and agency environments, she has delivered award-winning design solutions for global and local brands. Her work spans branding, packaging, structural design, and visual identity systems, recognized by the Pentawards, The Dieline Awards, and the A’ Design Award.

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  Ayako Takase

  co-founder / principal, Observatory

  2024 Furniture & Lighting Jury Member

  Ayako Takase (she/they) is the co-founder/principal of Observatory, an award-winning, multi-disciplinary design studio founded in 2001. Observatory balances innovation and simplicity to foster meaningful connections with people, culture, and audiences. With work spanning creative fields, Observatory relies foremost on an intuitive process that allows a natural interplay of form and function to take place in their designs. The studio has worked for leading companies such as Herman Miller, Google, and Procter & Gamble. Ayako is also an Associate Professor at the Rhode Island School of Design and a director of the graduate program in the Industrial Design Department. They teach hands-on studios focusing on audience-centric, emotive, and iterative design. Ayako lives in Cranston, Rhode Island, with her partner and too many creatures.

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  Gabriel Tan

  Founder, Gabriel Tan Studio & Creative Director, Ariake, Gabriel Tan Studio

  2019 Furniture & Lighting Jury Captain

  Gabriel Tan is the principal and founder of Gabriel Tan Studio, a design practice working across the borders of craft, culture and technology. The studio is interested in new ways to interpret luxury and break archetypes and clients include Blå Station, Design Within Reach, The Conran Shop, Ishinomaki Lab, Takata Lemnos, Abstracta and Authentics. Gabriel is also the creative director of Japanese furniture brand Ariake and Singapore based Turn Handles.
  
  The works of Gabriel Tan have been exhibited in Milan, New York, Stockholm, London, Paris, Tokyo, Barcelona, Singapore and he has guest lectured at Lasalle College of the Arts, National University of Singapore, University of Oregon, Pratt Institute and also served as a jury member at the Inde Awards and Cannes Lions Festival.

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  Jacqueline Tang

  Creative Director/ Studio Director, Entro Communications

  2024 Built Environment Jury Member

  As a Creative Director at Entro, Jacqueline brings over 12 years of multi-disciplinary design experience to the team. Her expertise spans a wide spectrum, including experiential graphics, exhibition design, identity, branding and interior design. Drawing inspiration from all aspects of life, Jacqueline strives to create dynamic, user-friendly environments of all types and sizes. Jacqueline’s education in Graphic Design, Architecture, and Fine Art History allows her to approach each project with a unique perspective. She is a valuable member of the senior design team with a skilled ability to work with international and specialized consultants, architects and fabricators to deliver highly tailored, award-winning solutions.

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  Tingbin Tang

  CEO, Jiusi Creativity

  2024 Consumer Technology Jury Member, 2024 A/V & Photography Equipment Jury Member

  Tingbin has been a designer, educator, and serial entrepreneur. As a designer, his works have won many design awards, were reported by Time magazine, ABC Good Morning America program, BBC news, etc. And was permanently collected by the Chicago Athenaeum Museum. He has been teaching and managing at three institutions in three different countries. He was the Dean of the School of Design of Pearl Academy in India; an Interaction Design professor at San Jose State University in California, USA; and he was the founder and director of the Transportation Design program at CAFA Central Academy of Fine Arts in China. He founded Gopackup, which connects travelers with locals; he cofounded Trisenx, which brought the third sense, smell into the internet; he founded Nearal, a location-based professional networking platform; and he also founded and worked on MeiCAD, an AI-powered CAD tool.

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  Dingdong Tang

  Project Coordinator, Corgan

  2026 Built Environment Jury Member

  Dingdong Tang is an award-winning architectural designer, Project Coordinator and BIM Lead at Corgan, and Founder & Principal of LYT-X Studio. He holds an M.Arch from the University of Southern California. At Corgan, he leads BIM strategy and cross-disciplinary coordination for large, mission-critical, next-generation AI campuses, setting standards that align design ambition with resilience, energy performance, and sustainability. His design philosophy holds that architecture is most powerful when it is context-specific—each site calling for a spatial language that honors cultural, environmental, and historical narratives.
  
  Advancing a performative and adaptive approach, Tang champions parametric design, computational strategies, and AI-assisted workflows to translate data, behavior, and human experience into spaces with clarity and consequence. Through LYT-X Studio, he leads interdisciplinary work in heritage revitalization, urban regeneration, adaptive reuse, and cultural/public architecture—treating technology not as an aesthetic end but as a generative medium that amplifies site-specificity, programmatic coherence, and emotional impact. He continues to push the boundaries of design through interdisciplinary research and experimentation, fostering architecture that is responsive, inclusive, and visionary.
  
  Previously at Yazdani Studio of CannonDesign, he advanced a sustainability-driven practice; a highlighted project—the Caltech Resnick Sustainability Center—achieved LEED Platinum and multiple honors. His work has earned Red Dot, IDA Architectural Design of the Year (2024), AIA, and Architizer A+ awards, and has been exhibited internationally, including NYCxDesign and the Red Dot Design Museum. Across research and practice, he grounds advanced technologies in memory, context, and imagination to create sustainable, future-oriented environments.

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  Julius Tapper

  Human-Centered Design and Innovation Consultant

  2021 Design for Social Impact Jury Member

  Julius Tapper is an innovation strategist working to redesign systems to value equity, inclusion, culture and prosperity. Julius has over a decade of professional experience spanning product and experience innovation, customer strategy, and social impact. Julius has led project teams across strategy and creative, for organizations including the UN, American Express, and UBS.
  
  Julius leads equity-centered design initiatives at Doblin, Deloitte’s human-centered design and innovation consulting practice. Prior to consulting, Julius worked at TD Bank, founding their impact investing and social finance program and issuing TD’s first Green Bond. Julius earned an MBA from MIT, an MPA from Harvard, and a BCom from the University of Toronto.

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  Joshua Taylor

  CEO, Product EVO

  2023 Commerical & Industrial Equipment Jury Member

  Josh Taylor is the CEO of Product EVO, a surfer dude, and a secret weapon for overwhelmed founders and product managers. He believes passion without good strategy is wasted energy. So he's on a mission to make successful products predictable and repeatable. His approach is to align the product development process with first principles for demand generation.
  
  Through Product EVO, Josh has helped develop hundreds of products and solved countless product development challenges along the way. He's created a curriculum for lean market research and product strategy for high-growth companies with limited time and resources.
  
  Outside of Product EVO, Josh is a landlocked surfer. He moves abroad with his family in the summers to chase waves during the big wave season in Central America. He is always looking for ways to expand his thinking about what is possible for his life and take massive action to live that way.
  

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  Ramon Tejada

  Independent Designer & Assistant Professor, Rhode Island School of Design

  2019 Design Education Initiative Jury Member

  Ramon Tejada is an independent Dominican/American designer and teacher based in Providence. He works in a hybrid design/teaching practice that focuses on collaborative design practices. His recent design research interest lies in the areas of disruption of the Design Canon, inclusivity, diversity, collaboration and the expansion and openings of design narratives and languages beyond the “traditional” Westernized paradigm of design. He received an MFA in Graphic Design from Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles, and an MFA in Performance Arts from Bennington College.

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  John Thackara

  Director, The Doors of Perception

  2015 Design for Social Impact Jury Captain

  For thirty years, John Thackara has traveled the world in his search of stories about the practical steps taken by communities to realize a sustainable future. He writes about these stories online and in books; he uses them in talks for cities and business; he also organizes festivals and events that bring the subjects of these stories together.John is the author of a widely-read blog atdesignobserver.comand of the best-sellingIn the Bubble: Designing In A Complex World (MIT Press) û also translated into nine languages. As director ofdoorsofperception.com, John organizes conferences and festivals in which social innovators share knowledge.John is a Senior Fellow of the Royal College of Art, in London, and a Fellow of The Young Foundation, the UK's social enterprise incubator. He sits on the advisory boards of the Pixelache Festival in Helsinki, the Future Perfect festival in Sweden, and Design Impact in India. He is also a member of the UK Parliament's Standing Commission on Design.Earlier, John edited the magazine Design for five years, and was later Modern Culture Editor of Harpers & Queen, and design correspondent of The Guardian. He then started a conference and exhibition company ,with offices in London and Tokyo, which created and organised events at the Pompidou Centre, Victoria & Albert Museum, Axis Gallery in Tokyo, and other venues. From 1989-1992, John was Director of Research at the Royal College of Art.Among John's 12 books are Design After Modernism: Beyond the Object (1987) andLost in Space: A Traveller's tale (1995). He has lectured in more than forty countries.

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  Sunshine Thacker

  Founder, Sunshine Thacker Studio

  2024 Furniture & Lighting Jury Member

  After studying Architecture and Land Development at Texas A&M University, Sunshine spent 15 years navigating lawyers, liars and leeches before returning to her first love - clay. Sunshine's background in architecture informs her always curious - artistic and design practice. Sunshine believes in taking risks, in pushing boundaries. She’s always asking, “why?” Or more often, “why not?” Her work has been featured in Architectural Digest, Dwell, Surface, Wallpaper and Elle Decor among others.

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  Hamish Thain

  VP Packaging, Ammunition

  2020 Packaging Jury Captain

  Founding member of the packaging design practice at Ammunition, based in Brooklyn NY.
  
  Hamish trained as an industrial designer, approaching packaging design from that perspective. Designing functional and delightful packaging experiences for consumer products.

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  Alvin Tham

  Industrial + CMF Designer, Bang & Olufsen

  2023 Gaming Accessories Jury Member

  An Industrial Designer based in Singapore, Alvin has over 18 years of experience crafting designs with small to multinational companies. His adaptability over the years has enabled his design experience to span across different and diverse design disciplines from industrial, packaging, and brand to CMF, producing multi-award-winning designs.
  
  When he was a brand consultant, he successfully helped rebrand, strategize, and improve brand equity for various companies in different industries. Prior to joining Bang & Olufsen, Alvin worked with other companies such as Philips and has collaborated with various automotive and lifestyle brands such as Aston Martin, Sony, and Balenciaga.
  
  He continuously strives to stimulate creative thinking, with unique and strategic ideas and solutions, applying them to his work to create inspiring and human-centric designs, focusing on emotive and experiential touch points.
  

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  Dr. Mathilda Tham

  Design Professor, Linnaeus University

  2015 Design for Social Impact Jury Member

  Dr Mathilda Tham's work sits in a positive, activist space between design, futures studies and sustainability. Her research explores how design can intervene at the level of paradigms to support futures of sustainability. She uses design research as activism by staging and facilitating participatory and interdisciplinary workshops for critical and creative envisioning. Mathilda's current research themes include metadesign, post-growth fashion, peace, and gender.As Professor in Design, Linnaeus University, Sweden, she leads the development of a new research platform Curious Design Change. She is a member of the board of Mistra (The Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research, Sweden). Mathilda Tham is a metadesign researcher, co-convenor of MA Design Futures and Metadesign, and PhD supervisor at Goldsmiths, University of London. Mathilda's latest publication Routledge Handbook for Sustainability and Fashion, co-edited with Kate Fletcher, is now out.