Meet the Jurors for Interior Design’s MAD Awards

The jurors are in for the industry’s first Metaverse Architecture and Design (MAD) Awards hosted by Interior Design, in partnership with digby. With the deadline for submissions fast approaching, Interior Design invites you to get to know the prestigious group of designers, Web3 leaders, and industry insiders around the globe tasked with selecting the people and projects pushing design forward with the emergence of Web3.

Heading the panel will be Interior Design editor in chief Cindy Allen, who has established herself as an industry champion and a force in elevating the design profession’s reach, promoting the Giants of Design as well as emerging talents. “We are excited to collaborate with digby to present the MAD Awards, and celebrate the individuals and firms who are driving change with creativity and ingenuity by leveraging emerging technologies,” says Allen. “We called upon the innovators who are actively exploring opportunities within the metaverse and Web3 to join our jury and they answered!”

The jury boasts several Interior Design Hall of Famers including the newly inducted Yves Béhar and 2014 inductee architect Hagy Belzberg. Béhar, founder of fuseproject, an industrial design and innovation studio in San Francisco, also recently co-founded Tonic, a fine art NFT community that bridges the physical and digital worlds. Belzberg, founding partner of Belzberg Architects—now BA Collective—in Los Angeles, often uses digital fabrication and non-traditional construction methods in his projects. “Design competitions have always helped propel innovation, and the virtual arena provides endless opportunity for compelling, creative, and brilliant concepts. I’m honored to participate and see all the exciting explorations,” says Belzberg.

In addition to Interior Design Hall of Famers, the jury members who will work alongside Allen to choose the winners across all categories include: Stanley Felderman, partner at Felderman Keatinge & Associates; Amanda Ferber, founder and CEO of The Architecture Hunter; Lorne Sugarman, CEO of Metaverse Group; Jinha Lee, co-founder and chief product officer of Spatial.io; Avinash Rajagopal, editor in chief of Metropolis; Evan Orensten, co-founder and executive editor of Cool Hunting; Molly Murphy, managing director and principal at Gensler New York; and Tessa Bain, co-founder of digby.

“We are so thrilled to have such an impressive roster of jury members that understand design’s inevitable foray into the virtual world and the importance of celebrating it at this early stage,” adds Bain. “It’s an honor to have this chance to explore a collection of work from the most forward-thinking minds in the architecture and design community. We’re on the cusp of a new era in design and I feel privileged to have the opportunity to recognize some of its earliest trailblazers alongside such an accomplished jury.”

Stay tuned for more details about the MAD Awards ceremony, which will take place live in the Spatial.io metaverse—a collaborative community platform in the virtual realm—in March 2023. Submissions close January 31, 2023.