The Core77 Design Awards Furniture & Lighting category features furniture and lighting products or systems for private, public, commercial or industrial use. Examples include home or public furniture and seating, office systems, lighting, workstations, etc.

According to Michaele Simmering, every choice a designer makes presents an opportunity to support something – or not. "We live in a made/designed world," says Michaele. "Design is everywhere around us." In her career, Michaele has chosen to create contemporary furniture that emphasizes sustainability and quality, helping shape the world in a positive way for the design community and beyond.

As the co-founder and creative director of Los Angeles-based design studio Kalon, Michaele has spent the last 17 years turning a careful eye to craftsmanship, materiality, and ecological responsibility in her furniture collections. Her work has been recognized with the Good Green Design Award from the European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies and The Chicago Athanaeum, inclusion in Sight Unseen's American Design Hot List, and with Wallpaper*'s 2024 Business Design Leader honor. Michaele was a Fulbright Award recipient and now explores perspectives in design by hosting Kalon's podcast: Objects in Conversation.

If there is anything that concerns Michaele about the industry's future, it is the growing consolidation of consumers toward a handful of lower-price-point, volume-based brands. That trend affects independent designers and brands who produce higher quality products at higher price points by shifting the consumer market toward a small number of what Michaele considers "mostly lackluster" makers. "This has to be the worst thing for creativity and innovation and culture," she says.

To designers entering their work in the Core77 Design Awards, Michaele advises approaching work with intention: "Strive for a net positive impact on the environment and your resources. Create work that supports local communities, upholds craft traditions, and reimagines how we all engage with material goods."

The Haworth Cardigan Lounge won the Furniture & Lighting Category in 2025: a collaboration between Haworth Design Studio and Patricia Uriquiola.

The 2024 winner in the Core77 Design Awards Furniture & Lighting category was Haworth Design Studio with Patricia Urquiola for the Haworth Cardigan Lounge. This knitwear-inspired lounge seating piece combines warmth with high style, comfort, and sustainability.

Show the 2025 Core77 Design Awards jurors what your designs support by submitting an entry in furniture or lighting – or one of our many other design categories.

Enter the Core77 Design Awards today.