ELITE DESIGN AWARDS 2025
ELITE DESIGN AWARDS 2025
Four female winners in 2025
Clothilde Verdim – MAY Rethinking everyday life
Second prize
Held every year, the prestigious Elite Design Awards honour leading talents in design. 2025 marked the eighth edition of the contest, for which the chosen theme this year was the Arts and Crafts artistic movement. Originating in the nineteenth century in England and Scotland, Arts and Crafts championed a return to artisanry and the values of quality, simplicity and beauty. This year’s Elite jury of internationally recognised designers had the task of designating three contemporary projects as the winners. The projects in question are the work of four young, talented female artists – here’s a brief overview.
First prize
Weronika Poręba – ANDE A tribute to craftsmanship and comfort
“I found the idea of designing a bed – a vital and intimate part of our homes – to be an unusual and stimulating exercise in my craft” explains Clothilde Verdim, winner of the second prize in the 2025 Elite Design Awards for her project, MAY. As well as co-founding a Paris-based firm specialising in retail design and restaurant outfitting, Clothilde takes personal pride in designing her own furniture and ornaments alongside her official business line.
She felt a very special connection with the Arts and Crafts theme, too: “It instantly resonated with a sketch I’d done during a stay in Oxford, where I rediscovered the patterns designed by one of the movement’s founding figures, William Morris.” She sees her award as an encouragement to develop and share her ideas, and is eagerly looking forward to new partnership opportunities in the future. MAY embodies Clothilde’s quest to match Elite’s expectations, in particular by highlighting upholstery
expertise through her use of piping. Clothilde, who trained in design at the Ecole Supérieure d’Art et de Design and later at the University of Strasbourg, explains that the result is a perfect fulfilment of the purpose of good design: “being useful and improving everyday life whilst also offering a fresh take on a familiar environment.” She sees design as “a tool for rethinking the world at everyday level; a hybrid experience that combines freedom and discipline with a focus on others.”
“I love creative work and designing artefacts that people then become very attached to,” says Weronika Poręba. Originally from Poland, the young artist started studying design in 2013 and set up her own company in 2020. “It became my passion – and later my entire career,” she explains. Weronika first heard about the Elite Design Awards through a chance remark by a friend: “I decided to enter the contest straight away. Furniture design is my favourite
specialisation and this type of competition is a great way of putting your skills to the test.” Hers very definitely caught the attention of the top-level jury tasked with selecting this year’s winners: “This kind of international recognition is very important to me. I have to confess that I couldn’t wait for the results to be announced!” she admits. That said, it came as a complete surprise to hear to learn that she had won first prize: “The Ande bed that I designed for the contest is now my favourite piece!” reports the enthusiastic winner, who holds a
masters in fine arts and furniture design from the University of Fine Arts in Poznan. In line with the 2025 theme of the contest, her graceful creation is a tribute to the artisanal tradition, combining minimalist lines with maximum comfort for an irresistible invitation to a good night’s sleep. Wernonika rightly sees winning first prize with Ande as inspiring confidence in professionals and the general public alike, making her feat a tremendous source of motivation and an encouragement to scale further heights in design.
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