Are you a student with a passion for design?

Then join Cor Unum’s Design Contest 2026–2027! 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:

Koppie Kopie

Copy to understand. Understand to transform.

For this edition, we invite you to treat copying as a method of learning. Choose a design that fascinates you and recreate it with precision. In the process, the thinking behind the object will become visible, creating space for your own intervention. Allow material, technique, and form to shift.

Copying is not repetition, but a way to begin again. Through attention and understanding, something personal can emerge.

We would like to receive a physical prototype of your idea. This prototype does not need to be made of ceramic, but it should clearly demonstrate how the concept could be translated into a ceramic product. This translation is part of the challenge: changes in material lead to new choices in structure, detail, and form.

Copying is not the end. It is a beginning. What will you change?

The ambassador of this year!
Bas van Beek (Rotterdam, 1974) is an artist, designer and curator whose work explores the relationship between material, heritage and contemporary design. By reinterpreting existing objects and traditions, he reveals how meaning is constructed through making, an approach that closely resonates with this year’s theme. His work is represented in the collections of, among others, the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Kunstmuseum Den Haag, the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven, and Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen.

Planning

I’m in!
From September 3, 2026, till April 5, 2027: Individual registration via this link.

Here it is
April 12, 2027: Deadline for submitting your prototype in Den Bosch.

You’re the one
April 16, 2027: Announcement of the nominees.

Here I am
May 2027: 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 member is Bas van Beek.

 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.

 Designer Business Boost!
Also in June 2027, 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.
  • Make your design process visible. Show the steps you have taken to examine, reconstruct, and transform the selected design into your own proposal. Please submit this process documentation as a printed part of your submission. Digital submissions, such as on a USB drive, will not be accepted.
  • If your design is nominated, you are expected to attend the award ceremony or be available online.
  • You give permission for your design and presentation to be used to promote the competition and to be included in the exhibition.
  • We respect your ownership of the design. Your design will always remain your intellectual property. We will never further develop, use, or commercialize your design without involving you as its designer. Your name will always be credited.

Questions?
Email Babette and Monique at designcontest@cor-unum.com or call +31 (0)73 303 0058.