As the global transition toward a circular economy accelerates, companies are increasingly adopting flexible and proactive approaches to sustainability.
Against this backdrop, FabCafe Global and Loftwork Inc. launched crQlr Awards 2021 in 2021—the first global award program in Japan dedicated to recognizing and celebrating circular design※. A total of 204 projects were submitted from around the world and evaluated by 19 jury members. From these, 63 projects were selected.
The awarded projects were not only recognized with prizes; the initiative extended further through the global rollout of award certification kits, as well as international summits bringing together award winners and jury members. Through these activities, the awards organically expanded their impact and helped accelerate each project’s ongoing efforts.
As the second edition, crQlr Awards 2022, launched in September 2022, this article looks back on how crQlr Awards contributes to advancing corporate sustainability initiatives—covering the background of the awards, highlights from the 2021 winning projects, and the developments that followed.
*Circular Design: Design approaches for products and services that aim to realize a circular economy. This includes not only form-giving, but also the design of systems and mechanisms themselves.
A total of 19 jury members from Japan and around the world participated, including Guillaume Charny-Brunet, co-founder of SPACE10, Mariko McTier, Fumio Nanjo, Akihiro Yasui, and others.
crQlr Awards 2021 was launched to discover, recognize, and further support circular design projects that open up new possibilities toward a circular economy—an issue drawing global attention.
By visualizing submitted projects, the Awards aim to organically connect future-makers who are steering innovation at the forefront with companies and individuals who support their initiatives. Through the expansion of this community, crQlr Awards seeks to create opportunities where even greater possibilities can emerge.
For the inaugural jury, 19 leading professionals from diverse fields joined from Japan and around the world. The jury included Guillaume Charny-Brunet, co-founder of Denmark-based innovation lab SPACE10; Mariko McTier, co-founder of the water-refill app mymizu; Fumio Nanjo, Special Advisor at Mori Art Museum; Akihiro Yasui, Representative of Circular Initiatives & Partners; Ana Laura Cantera, bio-electronic artist; among others.
From their selections, 63 projects were awarded.
Here, we introduce a selection of the winning projects.
From Products to Services: Introducing the Award-Winning Projects of 2021
CIRamics Prize / Mohamed Muse Hassan
NIKKO Circular Lab / Nikko Co., Ltd.
Founded in 1905, Nikko Co., Ltd. has continued its activities for over a century, valuing challenge, trust, and wisdom. NIKKO Circular Lab is a cross-departmental R&D project within the company that promotes circular ceramics manufacturing. From raw material procurement and product design to logistics, product use, and collection, employees work together across the entire ceramics value chain to realize a more sustainable, circular business.
https://awrd.com/en/creatives/detail/11782461
Prize Every Tree Prize / Tatsuya Takeda
Karimoku New Standard / Karimoku Furniture Inc.
Established in 2009 by Japanese wooden furniture manufacturer Karimoku, Karimoku New Standard creates furniture by combining forward-thinking ideas with outstanding manufacturing techniques through the sustainable use of underutilized hardwoods. The brand addresses challenges facing Japan’s forests—such as forest conservation and the revitalization of forestry regions-by proposing new, sustainable approaches rooted in local resources.
https://awrd.com/en/creatives/detail/11702592
Systems to Save Waste Prize / Mariko McTier
KURADASHI, a social impact shopping platform / Kuradashi Co., Ltd.
With the mission of “continuing to be a social good company,” Kuradashi Co., Ltd. aims to become Japan’s leading company in reducing food loss. By purchasing food products that would otherwise be discarded for various reasons directly from manufacturers and selling them to consumers online, KURADASHI helps reduce food waste. In addition, a portion of its sales is donated to NPOs and other organizations, contributing to the resolution of social issues beyond food loss.
https://awrd.com/en/creatives/detail/11751368
Influential Event Prize / Akihiro Yasui
PASS THE BATON MARKET / Smiles Co., Ltd.
Smiles Co., Ltd., which operates a wide range of services and brands including Soup Stock Tokyo, values “raising the temperature of society” as one of its core principles. PASS THE BATON MARKET is a flea market that brings together non-standard items and dead stock—such as food, clothing, furniture, accessories, stationery, and crafts—that had been left unused in warehouses. Launched in 2019, it serves as a platform to address the “waste” and challenges faced by companies, brands, and production regions, while introducing these hidden resources to the public.
https://awrd.com/en/creatives/detail/11791532
Other Award-Winning Projects
URL: https://awrd.com/en/award/crqlr-2021/result
Certification and Brand Kits That Can Also Be Used as PR Tools
The Brand Kit Awarded at crQlr Awards 2021
Selected projects received awards designated by the jury, as well as a certificate of recognition and a brand kit issued by the secretariat. The brand kit is used as a PR tool in press releases and on portfolio websites to help communicate each company’s initiatives to a wider audience.
A feedback session connecting award recipients and jurors: “crQlr Summit 2021”
At “crQlr Awards 2021,” a feedback session was also held to connect award recipients and jurors. In addition to gaining opportunities to widely share their initiatives, recipients were able to receive direct feedback from the jurors on their projects and to learn from the perspectives of other award-winning projects. This created an opportunity to collaboratively build more refined systems and approaches toward their next actions.
crQlr Summit 2021 Event Reporthttps://fabcafe.com/tag/crqlr/?show-type=magazine
The second edition of “crQlr Awards 2022” has launched, featuring newly established awards and related events.
The call for ideas and projects for “crQlr Awards (Circular Awards) 2022” is now open. The application period runs from Thursday, September 1 to Friday, October 14, 2022.
In its second edition, the awards once again uphold three core principles: “evaluating circular rather than linear value,” “an award for action, not prestige,” and “gaining a global perspective.” Together with leading judges active on the front lines both in Japan and internationally, the awards aim to support companies and individuals working toward a circular economy and to explore pathways for its realization.
We invite you to submit your circular ideas and projects being pursued within your organization. We look forward to your participation.
Title: crQlr Awards 2022
Application Period: September 1 (Thu) – October 14 (Fri), 2022 (until 12:00 PM JST)
Application Site: https://awrd.com/en/award/crqlr-2022/
Official Site: https://crqlr.com/
AWRD is an open call platform for co-creation where companies, local governments, and creators collaborate on diverse themes.
By inviting projects and talent from around the world, it enables initiatives in business development, community co-creation, and startup support through open innovation.
From project design to operational support, AWRD accompanies initiatives every step of the way, fostering co-creation that opens up value to society.