Good Design Award Philippines confers Malasakit Award to Nata de Coco Wound Dressing

By DTI-TPG-Design Center of the Philippines
June 23, 2022

MAKATI CITY – The Design Center of the Philippines continues to recognize Philippine design excellence propelled by malasakit as it concludes the 2022 run of the Good Design Award Philippines with 11 winning design solutions.

The Good Design Award Philippines is a national design excellence recognition system in search of design solutions that embody the principles of good design–form, function, innovation–plus the Filipino value of malasakit (compassion). The award system aims to underscore how good design goes beyond making things pretty but provides design solutions to address “wicked problems”, uplifts the quality of life of Filipinos, and enhances the country’s global competitiveness and innovation quotient.

“It is our vision to have the Good Design Award Philippines be the barometer of this new age in design. Where it plays a critical role in leading various industries in our country toward that direction – a direction that believes design is good not only when it is technically sound, but also when it positively impacts people, our country and even the global community,” Design Center Executive Director Rhea O. Matute remarks, maintaining that good design is purpose-driven.

This perspective on design is supported by Makiko Tsumura, director of the Japan Institute of Design Promotion, the organizer of the GMark or Good Design Japan, the largest Asian award founded in 1957 and reflects Japanese design values and principles that aim to enrich lives, industries and society.

According to Tsumura, GMark considers design not as a subject of color and shape, but of its innovative power to generate a better society. “In that sense, I believe GMark and the Good Design Award Philippines can share Good Design Award System soon,” Tsumura remarks, in reference to the award collaboration eyed to be established between Good Design Awards Japan and Good Design Awards Philippines, in order to usher a stronger design and business opportunities between the two countries. Tsumura also adds that all the Good Design Award Philippines 2022 awardees will automatically be included as entrants of the Good Design Award Japan happening in August 2022.

From over 161 entries received and 150 validated, 45 design solutions were shortlisted during an initial screening and further trimmed down to name 11 design solutions as Good Design Award Philippines 2022 awardees after an intensive final jury deliberations held on 06 June 2022.

Out of the 11 winning entries, Coco Patch, a wound care dressing made from nata de coco emerged as the top awardee. It bagged the highest recognition of the award system, the Malasakit Award or this year’s Gran Prix which is the best of the best and considered by Board of Jurors as the design that have the most impact in terms of its ability to address the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Coco Patch also brought home additional trophies - the Best in Class or the Gold Award in the category of Object-making, and the Green Award, specifically recognizing good design that addresses environment and sustainability issues indicated by the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The Coco Patch is a design solution that takes pride in elevating wound care and management technology in the Philippines through the ingenious use of coconut, an abundant and accessible local resource nationwide. Denver Chicano, innovator of the coconut-based wound dressing, recalls his nursing experience in the Philippine General Hospital and cites his experience with the patients he attends to as his prompt in developing Coco Patch. Chicano points out that “everything we do is service,” where care is an essential skill, circling back to the malasakit aspect of his product.

Entries that stood out under the image-making category are led by satirical cartoonist Tarantadong Kalbo’s ‘Tumindig’ artwork, which garnered the Gold Award. Other entries recognized under image-making and conferred the Red Award are: Tubbataha Coral Rip; Boysen’s This is a Tree; CCP Baybayan; and Macho Choir.

For the placemaking category, the MLR Bamboo Pavilion by Sangay Architects won the Gold Award, while Streetlight Tagpuro and Museo ni Jesse Robredo both bagged the Red Award.

For systems/service design, the Gold Award was awarded to Sakay.ph, a mobile app that provides transport directions for commuters and makes Metro Manila more navigable. The Red Award, on the other hand, was won by Alternative Indigenous Development Foundation, Inc.’s Mechanical Water Kiosk.

Recognizing the power of design to improve quality of human life, Design Advisory Council (DAC) Co-chair and Jury Chairperson Ar. Royal Pineda, shares that the Good Design Award Philippines establishes itself as a reference for design that does not only rely on aesthetics, scalability, and functionality, but more importantly, foregrounds a profound sense of malasakit to one’s kapwa. “In the context of our current society, malasakit is a very important component of any design as it levels the playing field and keenly ensures inclusivity among all Filipinos regardless of class, gender and any other divisive factors," Pineda adds.

The distinguished panel of jurors is composed of category heads including DAC members Kenneth Cobonpue for Object-making, Angel Guerrero for Image-making, Jennifer Wieneke for Service/Systems Design, and Joey Yupangco and Associates Design Principal Joey Yupangco for Placemaking. Each category jury also includes a representative from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to provide evaluation inputs in relation to the UN SDGs, which quantify the malasakit criteria of Good Design Award Philippines.

Category jury members for Object-making are Tito de la Peña, industrial designer and professor in UP Diliman; Pauline Suaco-Juan, DAC member and executive director of Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions; Bea Valdes, founder of Valdes Design; and Alyanna Carrion, Circular Economy Coordinator and UNDP PH Accelerator Lab representative.

For image-making, category jury members are Matec Villanueva, Marketing and Communications Director of the Ateneo de Manila University; Jowee Alviar, Co-founder and Creative Director of Team Manila Graphic Design Studio; and Charlene Balaan, communications associate of UNDP Philippines.

Placemaking category jury members are Ar. Louwie Gan, Architect/Urban Designer-Planner of L.A. Design Associates; Ar. Kath Sapungay, Principal Architect of Sangay Architects; and Irina Velasco, Head of Exploration of the UNDP PH Accelerator Lab.

Lastly, Systems/Service Design category jury members are Abigail Mapua, country director of Ashoka Philippines; Mark Colentava, Director of Pay of BayaniPay; Reese Fernandez-Ruiz, president and co-founder of Rags2Riches; and Rex Lor, Head of Solutions Mapping of UNDP PH Accelerator Lab.

The deliberation process and tabulation of results were supervised by a third-party auditing firm, P&A Grant Thornton (Punongbayan & Araullo).