Are you a student with a passion for design? Then join Cor Unum’s Design Contest 2025–2026! We offer you the opportunity to showcase your unique talent to a professional jury and audience.
As ceramic makers, we are committed to keeping the craft alive and providing you with a platform to shine. Recent alumni (up to one year after graduation) are also welcome to participate. Each year, we challenge you with a new and relevant theme. This year’s theme is:
Color it!
Color is everywhere. Color is emotion, memory, and identity. Color is language without words.
For this edition, we challenge you to embrace color. No shape without color, no design without pigment. Begin your story with color — and let everything unfold from where it leads you.
We present you with a selection of basic forms from the Cor Unum collection (see photo at the bottom of this page) — archetypes you may question, distort, or even fully embrace. See your design as a canvas, as a skin, as a carrier of your color story. Within these boundaries, your freedom to embrace color begins.
Will you let yourself be guided by a single hue or a vibrant palette of colors? How does color transform a shape? How does ambience influence a tint? Is white a color? When is red still red?
Color it! is an invitation to let color be the driving force of your design. Dive into the nuances, the stories, and the emotions that color evokes. Let color speak — and form follow.
Do you dare to embrace color?
The ambassadors of this year!
RENS is a design research studio founded by Renee Mennen and Stefanie van Keijsteren. The studio is specialised in the applied investigation of colors and materials. Based in Eindhoven (the Netherlands), RENS offers customised designs and valuable insights through a multitude of practices and services.
Since its founding in 2008, RENS has paired a precise, almost mathematical approach to design research with hands-on material experiments and a keen eye for color. Across disciplines and in a variety of mediums, the studio works on collaborative, commissioned and self-initiated projects. Material minded, colorful to the core.
Planning
I’m in! / From September 8, 2025, to March 30, 2026: Individual registration via this link
Here it is / April 13, 2026: Deadline for submitting your prototype in Den Bosch
You’re the one / April 17, 2026: Announcement of the nominees
Here I am / May 2026: Jury day and pitch presentations by the nominees
Jury
The permanent jury consists of chair Mary Hessing (Editor-in-Chief of WOTH), Bao Yao Fei (Design Curator), Anne van der Zwaag (Director and owner of OBJECT Rotterdam), and Charlotte Landsheer (Director of Cor Unum). This year’s guest jury members are Renée Mennen and Stefanie van Keijsteren from Studio RENS.
Prizes
From all submissions, 15 designs will be nominated. These will be exhibited at Cor Unum several weeks prior to the jury day and will be featured on our social media channels.
During the jury day, various cash prizes will be awarded. Additionally, a Public Choice Award will be selected by visitors of the exhibition. The winner will receive a Cor Unum gift voucher.
The winner of the first prize will be guided by Cor Unum in researching the production of their design and bringing it to market.
Designer Business Boost!
In June 2026, we will host a masterclass “Designer Business Boost” for all 15 nominees.
How do you bring your product to market? How do you determine the value of a design?
Cor Unum Director Lotte Landsheer and experienced guest designers from the professional field will share their stories, experiences, and practical tools to inspire and motivate you as a starting entrepreneur!
Participation Conditions
• The submitted prototype may be made from any material but must ultimately be producible in earthenware or porcelain.
• You grant Cor Unum permission to produce your design.
• You grant permission for your design and presentation to be used in publications.
• You grant permission for your design to be part of an exhibition.
• If your design is nominated, you are expected to attend the award ceremony or be available online.
Questions?
Email Babette and Monique at designcontest@cor-unum.com or call +31 (0)73 303 0058.
Forms are on display in the Cor Unum shop.
