Calling all Malaysian designers! Kokuyo Design Award 2018 is back!

First prize is a whopping RM73,000 so think beyond your boundaries!

Japanese stationery and furniture design company, Kokuyo is back with its famous design competition!

The Kokuyo Design Award in 2017 received over 1326 entries by 53 participating countries.

Kokuyo Design Award 2018 will be its 16th Kokuyo Design Award to be held since it was established in 2002.

Notable winners in the past include: “Kadokeshi”, “Campus Notebook Paracuruno”, “Wagomu”,”Nameless Paints” and “True Measure”. Many of these designs have since been commercialised and are readily available to be purchased by consumers.

Kokuyo will also be collaborating with local books and stationery store, CzipLee Malaysia to host an exhibition and design seminar.

“We’re happy to bring it to Malaysia as we see so much potential in the stationery and design community.

“With partners such as CzipLee who is pushing the envelope when it comes to embracing the cutting-edge lifestyle and stationery products – it’s only natural that we host it here,” said Katsuyuki Konishi, Managing Director of Kokuyo International Malaysia.

“With a grand prize of RM73,000 as first prize, and three other merit prizes worth RM20,000 each – it is no doubt that we are getting the crème de la crème of designers waiting to pitch their best ideas forward,” said Katsuyuki.

Konishi further explained on the themes of the design award in the past which includes: “Beautiful Lifestyle” (2015), “HOW TO LIVE” (2016) and “NEW STORY” (2017).

Kokuyo has been putting forward themes that encourage proposals for new value and stories in people’s work, learning and life scenes, rather than just in the functionality, practicality and beauty of the product design.

“This 2018, the theme is “BEYOND BOUNDARIES”. Work, play, every day life has changed the way boundaries exist – even so within Kokuyo’s business domain as it is becoming more and more seamless,” he added.

Beyond Boundaries targets designs that are for “stationery, furniture and all items generally used in working, learning and living scenes”.

The three main criterias for judging the entries are whether they 1) “propose new value” 2) “propose a life scene”and have 3) the “feasibility for commercialisation”.

“We make a complete evaluation to see if the proposal is indeed a novelty, and whether it is practical to consumers for everyday usage – and if it is feasible for commercialisation,” said Konishi.

The award is open for submission from June 22, 2018 – August 31, 2018. For more details on the Kokuyo Design Award 2018, please visit: http://www.kokuyo.com/en/award/

Is the Customer at the heart of your Digital Transformation?
On 19th of July, MARKETING will be organising a conference on Customer-Centric Digital Transformation (#DTCX2018) to help you answer that question. The conference will be driven by Paul Stewart who authored the best-seller ‘Branded Customer Service’ and currently is the Special Advisor, Strategy & Transformation for  P. S. Thinking. Drawing from his 25 years of diverse experience as a Chief Economist, CEO and consulting in organisational change, transformation and innovation Paul will be sharing his learnings and current trends in this realm.
He will be joined by key thought leaders in the areas of transformation, data analytics, customer service, branding, marketing, digital, human resources and more! Some of the key names who will be joining us include:

* Imran Kunalan Abdullah, Advisor/Principal Consultant – Digital Talent Development & Leadership and People Analytics
* George Aveling, CEO, TMI Malaysia
* Laurence Smith, Head, Asia Region, SmartUP
* Falko Leonhardt, Principal Consultant Transformation Strategy and Change, TMI
* Mohd Adam Wee Abdullah, Group CMO & Chief Customer Experience Officer, CIMB Group
* Rene Werner, Chief Customer Service & Customer Experience Officer, Celcom Axiata Berhad
* Noelle Lim, Director, BFM Edge Education
* Vigneswaran Sivalingam, Director of Operations, Teledirect of Telecommerce
Get ready to be inspired by case studies on transformation, honest conversations on driving change and actionable insights you can take back to implement in your organisation.
Date: 19th July 2018
Time: 8.30 am -6.00 pm
Venue: Sime Darby Convention Center, Bukit Kiara
For more information on DTCX 2018:
Click to visit DTCXJuly19 Microsite.
Download PDF Programme here.
Contact Amira [email protected] | 03 7726 2588
Book your spot early to avoid disappointment!

An afternoon of conversations we never had, with leaders most of you never met.

Discover what’s possible from those who made it possible. Plus a preview of The HAM Agency Rankings REPORT 2024.

Limited seats: [email protected]

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