Design Awards | bostondesignweek2020

Boston Design Week 2021 Design Awards

FRiday, May 7, 2021 - Details TBD

Nominations are Open Until March 15, 2021

Join us at the 2021 Boston Design Week Awards! The Awards are the culminating event of Boston Design Week and details will be announced soon.

The 2021 Lifetime Achievement Award will be presented to:

Miguel Gómez-Ibáñez

Master Furniture Maker and President Emeritus of North Bennet Street School

The Producers' Choice Award will be presented to:

The Society of Arts and Crafts

Other Awards to be announced and presented at the event include Mentor of the Year,

co-sponsored by The Over My Shoulder Foundation; Newcomer of the Year, Community Spirit Award, and the Social Impact Award.

Submit Your Nominations here.

Please note: If you nominated someone last year, that nomination is still valid. Feel free to contact us at if you would like to check.

March 25-April 5

2020

Miguel Gómez‐Ibáñez is the only graduate of North Bennet Street School is ever have served as President. During his tenure, NBSS completed a $28 million development project that moved the school from its historic home of 132 years on North Bennet Street to a new 60,000 SF facility in Boston’s North End. After completing the building project in 2015 free of debt, the school successfully completed a $20 million capital campaign to establish an endowment to support student scholarships.

Prior to attending North Bennet Street School’s Cabinet and Furniture making program, he was the founding principal of a Boston architectural practice specializing in historic preservation and design for people with special needs. He combined the 20 years experience as an architect with his North Bennet Street School training as a cabinet maker to become a nationally recognized designer and maker of studio furniture. His work has been featured in House and Garden, Good Housekeeping, American Craft, Fine Woodworking and others, and has been exhibited in galleries and museums across the country. He is the author of numerous articles and essays on furniture and design. He is a past president of The Furniture Society and currently serves on the Board of Trustees of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts and the American Craft Council.

The Boston Design Week Lifetime Achievement Award is presented to an outstanding individual in the world of design
whose work has spanned both the 20th & 21st centuries.

Past recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Award include:

2009 - Vladimir Kagan, Designer and Architect

2010 - Dakota Jackson, Furniture Designer

2011 - Massimo and Lella Vignelli, Designers

2012 - Vicente Wolf, Interior Designer

2013 - John P. Axelrod, Collector and Philanthropist

2014 - Susan Park, Preservationist

2015 - Robert Campbell, Architecture Critic

2016 - Virginia Bohlin, Antiques Columnist, Boston Globe

2017 - Jonathan Leo Fairbanks, Decorative Arts Curator

Emeritus, MFA Boston

2018 - Maurice N. Finegold, Finegold Alexander Architects

2019 - Roger Thomas, EVP, Wynn Design and Development

2020 - Awards were postponed.

Nominations Are Now Open - Nominate Someone Today! Submit Your Nominations here.

Nomination Guidelines

• All Nominations must be submitted electronically.

• Anyone can submit as many nominations in each category as they choose, and self-nominations are allowed.

• Only complete nomination forms will be considered.

• The winners will be announced and the Awards will be presented at the Boston Design Week 2021 Awards, to be scheduled. The nominee must be present to receive the Award, but all finalists will be notified and receive complimentary admission to the Awards for and a guest.

• The Award finalists and recipients must agree to allow Boston Design Week to publish and promote the information about their award.

• The Awards carry no monetary value, and the decisions of Boston Design Week and its advisors are final.

The Mentor of the Year Award is given to an outstanding role model in any design field who encourages involvement in professional opportunities and provides exemplary guidance or training in their discipline to students, staff members, colleagues or the public. The Mentor of the Year Award is co-sponsored by The Over My Shoulder Foundation.

The Newcomer of the Year Award is given to an outstanding individual (or individuals) in any design field, who has launched a new product, design process, design business or other innovation within the past 5 years.

The Social Impact Award is given to an outstanding individual, project, development, innovation or business in any design field that has contributed a design solution large or small to any urgent issue facing our world: societal, environmental, economic, health and wellness, poverty, affordability, sustainability or other.

The Community Spirit is given to an outstanding individual, non-profit organization or business in any design field that has proven its support of the design community and contributes to the overall well-being of the design community through their actions, volunteerism, and/or professional activities.

Our 2019 award recipients were: