Established in 2008 by the Furniture Makers’ Company, the Design Guild Mark Awards 2025 is a non-profit award programme that aims to raise the profile of British industrial design and to recognise excellence in this discipline.

The Design Guild Mark is unique to other design awards in that applicants are required to present their actual piece in person to a panel of independent judges, each one a leader in their field, bringing valuable knowledge and expertise to the evaluation process.

The Design Guild Mark Award 2025 is also unique from other competitions that have a ranking of entries and a single winner; a Design Guild Mark will be given to every design that demonstrates to the judges that it represents the highest standards of originality and innovation in industrial design.

Categories

The Design Guild Mark 2025 edition invites designers and companies to submit entries for three categories:

• Furniture
• Lighting
• Interior Design Elements

Eligibility & Criteria

The award is open to designers working in the UK, designers with UK-based design practices, and even British designers working abroad, and entries for all categories can be for designs intended for domestic, office, hospitality, educational or corporate use, and for both interior and exterior environments. Submissions can be for an individual product or a collection of products that are currently in production, that were designed for, and are manufactured by, an industrial design process. There is no restriction on when the design was launched.

The selection of criteria to establish if a design is deserving of a Mark are:

• Innovation – does the design demonstrate new and original thinking and problem solving/is it different/does it do something better?
• Function – is the design fit for purpose/does it work well and intuitively/ does it benefit the user and how?
• Form – is the design aesthetically appealing and its appearance appropriate/is it made well/does it incorporate innovative manufacturing materials and processes?
• Brand – does the design develop a brand’s position/does it provide a competitive advantage or edge in any way?
• Environment – does the design demonstrate a responsibility to progressing sustainable and circular practices/is the product designed and made for longevity of appeal and use?

Benefits

The designs awarded a Guild Mark – representing the domestic and contract markets – will benefit from increased industry and consumer awareness, press and social media coverage, with the designers and companies behind them also receiving enhanced brand recognition.

Recipients of the 2025 Design Guild Marks from each of the three categories will also be put forward to receive the additional Jonathan Hindle Prize for Excellence.