What is crQlr Awards?
How can we transform our current economic system into a circular one?
We believe that the power of design can make this transition possible.
Circular design, an essential component in achieving a genuinely sustainable economy, demands not only practical know-how within existing industries but also calls for expanding horizons through engagement with local and global projects. Moreover, it necessitates harnessing the creativity of entrepreneurs, artists, and experts across diverse fields. As a means to accomplish this goal, we present the crQlr Awards.
Most design awards are linear. Entries are solicited and evaluated, winners are decided, and prizes are awarded at a final gathering. The crQlr Awards are different. More than a simple awards ceremony, they include networking events open to all entrants, where ideas are developed and catalyzed through exchange.
The crQlr Awards connect the international creators and professionals currently designing the future with a jury of sustainability leaders in order to support the collective creation of the blueprints of a new world. In the crQlr Awards 2021, 19 judges reviewed the entries, while in 2022 and 2023, there were 10 judges each year. Over 100 award-winning works were selected in total.
The judges, along with FabCafe Global and Loftwork Inc., the organizers of the crQlr Awards, aim to support the realization of projects through feedback, mentoring, and PR at events. This page also introduces collaboration events born from the award-winning projects. Please take a look.
▶︎crQlr official website: https://crqlr.com/
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DESIGN募集期間：TUE, SEP 19, 2023 - MON, NOV 13, 2023
Open call for projects and ideas that drive the circular economy forward!
The crQlr Awards are a global movement to celebrate initiatives in the circular economy.
Results
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DESIGN募集期間：THU, SEP 01, 2022 - FRI, OCT 21, 2022
Open call for projects and ideas that drive the circular economy forward!
The crQlr Awards are a global movement to celebrate initiatives in the circular economy.
Results
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DESIGN募集期間：WED, AUG 04, 2021 - FRI, OCT 22, 2021
crQlr Awards, The future is circular, just like our awards.
The crQlr Awards is a global awards for designing the circular economy.
Results
crQlr Awards 2023 Winning Projects
crQlr Awards of Each Year
crQlr Awards 2023
The crQlr Awards is an open call for projects and ideas that drive the circular economy forward. In 2023, the third edition of the award, 10 judges reviewed 140 projects submitted from over 40 countries worldwide and selected 28 award-winning projects.
▶︎About the special prize: FabCafe Global Prize
crQlr Awards 2022
The crQlr Awards 2022, the second edition of the award, are based on three guiding principles: "Circular, not linear," "Action, not prestige," and "Gain from global perspectives." Furthermore, the special prize, FabCafe Global Prize, is presented to honor "Bottom-up Actions for the Community."
▶︎About the special prize: FabCafe Global Prize
crQlr Awards 2021
The “crQlr Awards” will be launched in 2021 as the first awards in the field of “circular design” in Japan. The awards will be presented to large-scale projects and ideas in the planning stages with the aim of realizing a circular economy.
crQlr Summit & Exhibition
The crQlr Summit and crQlr Awards Exhibition provide a unique opportunity for mutual learning, networking, and deepening connections with the leaders of the circular economy field that will encourage participants to take bold steps for the future of sustainability.
crQlr Summit 2024 Tokyo : New Relationship Desingn
The crQlr Summit in Tokyo adopted this year's Special Prize theme of new relationship design. On March 8, 2024, at FabCafe Tokyo, participants rethought production and consumption, creating new relationships where consumers might become producers and artists might work with scientists to change public perceptions about what is edible and what is not.
▶︎Event Page
▶︎Event Report
crQlr Awards Exhibition TOKYO: New Relationship Design
crQlr Awards Exhibition TOKYO is held at FabCafe Tokyo on Macch 2024.
This exhibition showcased and introduced the three projects that received the Special Prize, also known as the FabCafe Global Prize, from the crQlr Awards 2023. This year’s prize recognizes projects and ideas that practice “New Relationship Design” within the circular economy.
▶︎Event Page
crQlr Summit 2023 JAPAN
The crQlr Summit 2023 JAPAN honored prize-winning projects and featured insightful talks by the winners and jury members. It also provided a unique opportunity for mutual learning, networking, and deepening connections with the leaders of the circular economy field that encourage participants to take bold steps for the future of sustainability.
▶︎Event Page
▶︎Event Report (Japanese version only)
crQlr Summit TOULOUSE – Sustainable Solutions for a Fab City
The Toulouse Summit on February 17th, 2023 hosted by FabCafe Toulouse and FabCafe Global structured around the Fab City concept of localizing production and consumption.
▶︎Event Page
▶︎Event Report
crQlr Summit MEXICO CITY – Art Experiences Shaping Sustainability
At the crQlr Summit MEXICO CITY, we looked at how these multidisciplinary projects push forward the circular economy through unique intersections of research, design and artistic expression.
▶︎Event Page
▶︎Event Report
crQlr Summit 2021
At this event, which was held as a related project to this award, feedback and discussions will be held over two days with the 19 judges of the crQlr Awards, the chairpersons from each country, and two or three award-winning teams as guests. As a simultaneous program, a public viewing will also be held at FabCafe Tokyo.
▶︎Event Page
▶︎Event Report1
▶︎Event Report2
crQlr Meetup
The crQlr Meetups are a series of events that aim at creating organic connections among the makers of the future who are working toward a circular-oriented society.
crQlr Meetup Osaka (2023)
For the crQlr Meetup held in Osaka for the first time, the theme is "Creating the Future of Soil." The event brought together a diverse range of players, including companies dedicated to sustainable agricultural development through digital technology and soil improvement techniques, as well as startups involved in products and services related to soil and its surrounding environment.
▶︎Event Page (Japanese version only)
crQlr Meetup Kyoto (2023)
The crQlr Meetup Kyoto aimed to connect creators of a circular society. As guests, it featured Mr. Sakai from FERMENT STATION, who regenerates and circulates unused resources with unique fermentation technology, and Mr. Tomohiro from Sea Vegetable, who fosters marine ecosystems while creating a new seaweed food culture. Together, they explored what it means to be a good company not only for shareholders and customers but also for employees, local communities, and the natural environment.
▶︎Event page (Japanese version only)
▶︎Event Report (Japanese version only)
crQlr Meetup Nagoya vol.3 (2023)
A dialogue-driven event where you could meet people and activities challenging initiatives towards a circular economy and sustainability! Three creators and companies from diverse backgrounds gave short presentations on the topic of the circular economy at this meetup.
▶︎Event Page(Japanese version only)
crQlr Meetup Hida (2022)
The theme of the crQlr Meetup Hida centered on the untapped economic and ecological benefits of a regenerative business model that emphasizes the sustainable use of natural resources.
▶︎Event Page
▶︎Event Report
About Judges
At the crQlr Awards, 19 judges in 2021 and 10 judges in both 2022 and 2023 selected multiple projects from the submitted entries as award winners. Each judge gave a personalized award name to the winning projects, reflecting their expectations and hopes for them.
▶︎crQlr Awards 2023 Judges
crQlr Awards 2023 Judges Information
▶︎crQlr Awards 2022 Judges
crQlr Awards 2022 Judges Information
▶︎crQlr Awards 2021 Judges
crQlr Awards 2021 Judges Information
The Collaboration with the Awards-winning projects
Highlighting the events featuring a collaboration between FabCafe Global and Loftwork Inc., the organizers of the crQlr Awards, with the award winning projects.
crQlr Awards 2023
FabCafe Global Prize
Sea Vegetable Circulation
By Sea Vegetable Inc.
Sea Vegetable Company collects and studies seaweeds that are declining due to rocky shore scorch, revives them through land and sea cultivation with less environmental impact, and proposes new ways to eat seaweeds. They seek to preserve the seaweed-eating culture passed down from our ancestors while simultaneously creating a new culture around how we eat seaweed.
▶︎Related event: crQlr Awards Exhibition TOKYO: New Relationship Design
During the 2024 crQlr Awards Exhibition, a limited-time FabCafe menu, in collaboration with Sea Vegetable LLC's was introduced.
FabCafe Global Prize
Guilty Flavours
By Eleonora Ortolani
Guilty Flavours is a radical proposal for how humans can harness our own bodies as machines to eliminate plastic forever – by eating it. Starting with vanillin, the molecule of vanilla flavour, this research project explores how we can realistically harness this process to create fully edible molecules transformed by living organisms. The result is the Guilty Flavor ice cream - the first real sample of food ever made containing an ingredient transformed from plastic waste.
▶︎Related event: Guilty Flavours Talk with Eleonora Ortolani x BioClub Tokyo
In collaboration with BioClub, FabCafe is hosting a lecture and exhibition tour alongside Multidisciplinary Artist and Material Designer, Eleonora Ortolani on March 2024. In the event participants got a chance to hear a deeper discussion on the award-winning project. The event report has been released here.
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crQlr Awards 2022
Eco Friendly Product Prize
Eco-Friendly "Toothpaste Paper" and "Bamboo Toothbrush"
By MiYO ORGANIC
"Bamboo toothbrushes" and "toothpaste paper" are eco-friendly alternatives for brushing your teeth. Toothpaste paper contains a single-use amount of toothpaste in paper form, which foams when it comes into contact with saliva or water. It's convenient for use as amenities, in disaster preparedness kits, for hiking, and for caregiving, and it reduces plastic usage by about 98% compared to traditional products.
FabCafe Nagoya is envisioning a circular future through its series "crQlr dialogue 1 on 1," where they interview innovators. Tomohiro Yabashi, the representative of FabCafe Nagoya, interviewed Mio Yamamoto, whose company won the Eco Friendly Product Prize of crQlr Awards, about her motivations and her vision for the future.
Upcycle Sound Prize
Mirai Instruments Labo
by SOU 創
The artist Sou originally worked by creating and performing with musical instruments made from everyday household items. In today's world, it is essential to use environmentally friendly materials and technologies in all fields, not just music. With this in mind, Sou took on the challenge of making instruments from materials that would otherwise be discarded as waste.
▶︎Related Event：Creating Music with Discarded Items! Workshop feat. Mirai Instrument Lab
As part of their upcycling initiative, FabCafe Nagoya is hosting a workshop in collaboration with Mirai Instrument Lab, where participants will create and play musical instruments made from discarded materials.
New Fair Trade Coffee Prize
Mikafi Roasting Platform
by Mikafi
Mikafi is a roasting platform democratizes the cycle of coffee roasting by connecting farmers, local businesses and nature by technology. This digital service ecosystem contains a fully automated IoT roasting machine, a coffee management platform as well as a physical and digital coffee experience for consumers. Mikafi enables coffee selling businesses to buy green beans from farms, roast on spot fresh coffee and learn from their community. This is how we connect the coffee ecosystem in a digital service, increase their profitability, enable personalization and guarantee sustainability from farm to cup.
▶︎Related Event : The event for Mikafi - the coffee roasting platform
A special booth for "Mikafi" was set up at FabCafe Kyoto. Throughout the event, there were various activities, including a live demonstration of the smart roasting machine, coffee tastings of freshly roasted coffee, and meetups with players involved in the ethical production and distribution ecosystem.
Organized by FabCafe Global
FabCafe is a series of ‘Fab’ innovation labs that specialize in creating products, services and experiences of the future. Here, maker enthusiasts, businesses and everyday people can access digital fabrication tools and experiences for fields ranging from fashion to bio. Founded in Tokyo in 2012, FabCafe’s global network now serves and fosters creative communities around the world, including Tokyo, Bangkok, Barcelona, Kyoto, Taipei, and many more.
Media Sponsor
IDEAS FOR GOOD / Circular Economy Hub
