German Design Award 2026: The Five Newcomer Finalists Have Been Announced
A Generation Shaping the Future of Design
The jury of the German Design Award 2026 – Newcomer has made its decision: five young designers have been selected as finalists.
The finalists were nominated as part of the German Design Graduates 2025 initiative and subsequently chosen by the Newcomer Jury of the German Design Awards 2026.
Their work represents a generation that understands design as both a cultural and social practice – balancing experimentation with responsibility, craftsmanship with digital systems, and material intelligence with empathy. Whether through circular materials, inclusive communication or social design processes, they share an openness to exploration and a curiosity for finding new ways to consciously shape the future.
The Finalists 2026
Cornelius Richter – Folkwang University of the Arts
Discipline: Industrial & Product Design
Cornelius Richter views industrial design as a space for curiosity, failure and progress. He explores how material choices shape perception and value, using recycled materials such as construction debris as aesthetic components. His projects STUHL and re.form combine critical thinking, playful experimentation and sustainable design.
Johannes Rothkegel – University of Design Schwäbisch Gmünd
Discipline: Communication & Digital Design
With Human Interface, Johannes Rothkegel develops digital systems that bring empathy and calm to the foreground. His projects Voice Select and Noto slow down interactions and frame technology as a quiet companion – one that supports users rather than overwhelming them.
Linn Zahn – University of Design Schwäbisch Gmünd
Discipline: Communication & Digital Design
Through projects such as Kontakt Kiosk and Stitches, Linn Zahn explores design as a social tool for connection and exchange. Her work focuses on empathetic communication, craftsmanship and participation. For her, design should not merely sell emotions – it should evoke them.
Mareen Baumeister – Weißensee Academy of Art Berlin
Discipline: Industrial & Product Design
With Material Intelligence, Mareen Baumeister examines the relationship between ecology, craftsmanship and technology. Her projects FRUMO and FLOCK transform fruit waste and wool into resilient new materials, merging robotics with traditional making – a statement for resource-conscious material cycles.
Marie Kurstjens – Berlin University of the Arts
Discipline: Industrial & Product Design
Under the title Common Ground, Marie Kurstjens follows a collaborative approach to design. In projects such as COOK/ABILITY and Designing Dignity, she combines empathy with functionality to address social and humanitarian challenges – using design as a means to foster community and dignity.
Design as a Driver of Change
The five finalists of the German Design Award – Newcomer 2026 embody an attitude that sees design as a driving force for change. They demonstrate how creativity, responsibility and innovation can enrich one another – and how design not only accompanies the future but actively shapes it.
