NIPPON Paint will be celebrating its final leg of the 14th AYDA Awards 2021/2022 at an exclusive international award ceremony in Penang, Malaysia on July 7, 2022. This year, Muhammad Afzal bin Hasmi and Amirah Afizah binti Abdullah were respectively recognised in the Architectural and Interior Design categories at the national level and will represent Malaysia during the upcoming grand finale. 

Muhammad Afzal’s submission was aimed at empowering local entrepreneurships to sustain people’s livelihood and social needs during the pandemic. Amirah’s project, on the other hand, was aimed to develop an agricultural hub for mankind to live within the mangrove forest ecosystem sustainably.  

Parked under Nippon Paint’s Colouring Lives initiative, AYDA Awards 2021/2022 is themed ‘Forward: Amplifying Empathy through Design’ to challenge participants to think outside the box, creating design solutions that address the needs of end-users while maintaining the balance of the environment.

The event will be a culmination of Nippon Paint’s continuous effort to recognise and award aspiring designers for their creative design work across several geographical locations where they have presence. The countries include Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam.

In addition to the unveiling of the grand international winners, participants will have the opportunity to interact with an illustrious panel of judges, industry mentors as well as peers at the exclusive international award ceremony. 

“Without a doubt, the paradigm of design has shifted from mere creations of space to designs that elevate societies of all backgrounds. Today, designers’ creations must go hand in hand with the needs of communities to ensure sustainable development. Here, in Malaysia, it gives me great encouragement to see how both Afzal and Amirah have spearheaded the change in


the design industry by coming up with innovative creations that serve their communities and environment. I hope our designers here will continue to be on-board this direction and be motivated to represent our country in future AYDA Awards,” said Yaw Seng Heng, Group Managing Director of Nippon Paint Malaysia.

“The design landscape of tomorrow will undoubtedly be more demanding than what we are seeing today. Hence, designers will be coming face-to-face with unique challenges arising from engaging their users on issues such as climate change and sustainability. Through AYDA Awards 2021/2022, I look forward to seeing designs that go hand-in-hand with the user’s emotional connection space. We wish our best to all participants and thank everyone for the support given to the AYDA Awards over the years,” said Wee Siew Kim, Group Chief Executive Officer, NIPSEA Group and Co President, Nippon Paint Holdings Group. 

Since 2008, the AYDA Awards has provided a creative and impact-driven platform for architects and designers. Thus far, it has engaged 16 countries and 1,200 education institutions with more than 47,000 entries till date. This year, AYDA Awards 2021/2022 received an astounding number of 6,184 entries from 15 countries (excluding Bangladesh) and awarded 27 international finalists in these locations, strengthening AYDA Award’s reputation as a highly recognised award among the design community.

Inspiring a sense of empathy in design work to better serve communities

The past two years have shown Nippon Paint’s strength in being part of a community and making social impact. By recognising this shift, the AYDA Awards 2021/2022’s theme was thus meant to inspire designers to consider how to incorporate empathy into their work and allow communities and their environments to thrive. It is especially relevant to fast-growing populations in Asia, where the demand for spaces that cater to emotional and social needs is ever-growing. 

With the theme of amplifying empathy through design, AYDA aims to encourage designers to be agile to the ever-changing demands of consumers while making the most of commercial values and taking care of the environment. Keeping this in mind, the creations that come out from the awards this year are bound to set the bar of what is expected of future designers and thinkers.

AYDA Awards 2021/2022 grand finale will award the designers based on architectural and interior design categories. (Refer to appendix I for more details) Industry veterans who will judge the entries include Paul Noritaka Tange, Ezumi Harzani Ismail, Lea Aviliani Aziz, and Sami Savatli. (Refer to appendix II for more details.)

Interested parties can tune in to join the award ceremony virtually on YouTube via registration with the details as follows:

• 22 June - Architectural Category Presentation & Judging. [AYDA Awards 2021/ 2022 International Finale - Architectural Category Presentations & Judging - YouTube]


• 23 June – Interior Design Category Presentation & Judging. [AYDA Awards 2021/ 2022 International Finale - Interior Design Category Presentations & Judging - YouTube] 

• 7 July – 2021/2022 International Finale Award Ceremony. [AYDA 2021/ 2022 International Finale Award Ceremony - YouTube]  


As part of AYDA’s mission to produce designers who are active advocates for their society, Nippon Paint’s partnership with Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design (Harvard GSD) will award the grand winner of each category with an all-expenses-paid three-week trip to attend the institution’s Design Discovery Programme worth up to USD 10,000.    Other than the grand prize, participants can also look forward to being awarded in other categories as stated below:

●      Nippon Paint Colour Award - Cash prize of USD1,000

●      Best Sustainable Design Award - Cash prize of USD1,000

●      Best Design Impact Award - Cash prize of USD1,000  


Nippon Paint also provides students with the funds they need to pursue their education at Harvard GSD through the Gennosuke Obata Fellowship Fund. As believers of long-term collaborations, Nippon Paint will be connected to Harvard GSD’s alumni around the world to allow more collaboration between Harvard GSD and AYDA in the future.

Be part of the AYDA Awards 2021/2022 experience by following the AYDA facebook page AYDA Malaysia or visit www.asiayoungdesignerawards.com for more information today!