The final countdown is on: just 10 days left until the final final deadline to enter Western Living Designers of the Year awards! As a quick reminder:

Late Entry Fee: April 2 to April 13: $175 (plus tax), which includes one ticket to our Designers of the Year event on September 10 in Vancouver at Inform, and a complimentary subscription to Western Living.

Really Late Entry Fee: April 14 to April 17: $275 (plus tax)

Entries not accepted after April 17—no exceptions. The deadline will not be extended past this date.

ICYMI: Western Living‘s Designers of the Year competition is an annual celebration of the best designers in Western Canada. Winners are featured in the September issue of the magazine and online at westernliving.ca, as well on our Instagram and Facebook.

We’ll also be live-announcing the finalists at Thermador in Vancouver on June 17—and every finalist is entered into our 2026 Western Living People’s Choice Awards.

Categories include Architecture, Interior Design, Landscape Design, Furniture Design, Industrial Design and Maker, plus our two emerging categories: the Arthur Erickson Memorial Award for an emerging architect or residential designer, and the Robert Ledingham Memorial award for an emerging interior designer.

Any questions? We’ve put together this handy FAQ page, or feel free to drop us a line at [email protected], and we’re happy to help you through the process.

And now: we’re pleased to introduce the esteemed judging panel for our Maker category!

Enter now!

The 2026 Western Living Designers of the Year Maker Judges

Caroline Boquist, Walrus

Caroline brings more than 20 years of experience in sales and marketing within contemporary design. Her time working at Inform Interiors ignited a passion that led to co-founding Walrus in 2009: a contemporary home and gift shop inspired by museum gift shops, celebrating accessible and thoughtfully curated design for everyday life, with over 70 percent Canadian makers represented.

Caroline serves on the Boards of Cambie Village BIA and 221A, championing artists and cultural infrastructure across the city. She has mentored emerging designers and entrepreneurs, and has served as a guest critic for Emily Carr University’s Industrial Design program.

It is her genuine commitment to bridging design and community that has secured Caroline’s place as a respected voice in Vancouver’s design industry.

Marie Khouri

Born in Egypt and raised in Lebanon, Marie Khouri is a Vancouver-based sculptor whose work is shaped by a rich interplay of cultural and historical influences. Marked by the experience of the Lebanese Civil War, her early life unfolded across Spain, Canada, and Paris, where she later studied at l’École du Louvre.

Working at the intersection of language, form, and the body, Khouri explores the emotional and symbolic potential of sculpture. Her practice, informed by Henry Moore’s direct carving approach, reflects a deeply personal engagement with memory, displacement and the layered histories of the Middle East.

Over the past fifteen years, Khouri has exhibited widely across Europe and North America. Her work has been presented at institutions and platforms including the Vancouver Art Gallery, PAD Paris and London, and NOMAD Capri, and is held in numerous private and public collections.

In the autumn of 2024, Khouri’s work was featured in Forever Is Now, presented by Art d’Égypte at the Giza Pyramids. Her monumental sculpture I LOVE was subsequently exhibited for over a year at the Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris. Continuing its international trajectory, it is currently on view at the Cité internationale de la langue française in Villers Cotterêts, where it will remain on display through the end of 2026.

Khouri is the recipient of several distinctions, including the Award of Distinction for Lifetime Achievement from the BC Achievement Foundation and the Ordre National du Mérite, awarded by the French Government.

Karen Konzuk, Konzuk

Based on the coast of British Columbia, Karen Konzuk draws inspiration from the subdued tonal landscape of her surroundings—grey skies, shifting light, and mountainous terrain—informing a design language rooted in restraint and structural clarity. Originally drawn to architecture, her work continues to reflect an architectural mindset, translating principles of mass, balance, and spatial tension into objects of intimate scale.

Konzuk’s use of concrete emerged from a deliberate departure from traditional jewelry materials. Rather than adhering to convention, she pursued the material for its capacity to express forms and textures unattainable in metal. Over years of technical development, she has refined proprietary methods that transform this industrial medium into objects of quiet precision and sophistication. Her work spans jewellery and sculptural home objects, unified by geometric forms, particularly the circle as a symbol of unity and balance.

Esteemed international collaborations include Sir Paul Smith’s flagship stores in New York and Los Angeles, and a bespoke collection for the Guggenheim NYC exhibition of Hilma Af Klint and an official licensed jewellery collection for the Frank Lloyd Wright foundation.
KONZUK has received various accolades including an award for production at the Craft Council of BC, 2018, “Earring Show”, the Jewelry Design Award from the A’ Design Award Event, Como, Italy, 2014 and is a 2020 recipient of the Carter Wosk Award in Applied Art and Design. Publications include, “Currents: Contemporary Pacific Northwest Design”, “Masters of Jewelry Design”, 2013. “Jewelry Design”, 2008 “New Bracelets” and “New Earrings” 2021 and 2024.

Ready to enter? Head over to our entry page!