Coway sweeps Japan's Good Design Award with 5 wins, completing sweep of world's top 4 design prizes

Coway won five main prizes at Japan's 2026 Good Design Award, with honorees spanning its core home appliances — water purifiers and air purifiers — as well as massage chairs and a food waste processor. The wins complete the company's sweep of the world's four major design awards this year, following earlier recognition from Germany's iF and Red Dot awards and the US-based IDEA award.

Coway announced Monday that five products received main prizes at the 2026 Good Design Award, organized by the Japan Institute of Design Promotion. The Good Design Award is an international design competition that draws roughly 5,000 entries from more than 45 countries each year. It evaluates usability, problem-solving capability and sustainability, granting a "G Mark" to outstanding designs. Along with Germany's iF and Red Dot awards and the US IDEA award, it is considered one of the world's four major design prizes.

The five winning products this year are the Icon Water Purifier 3, the Square Fit Air Purifier, the Berex Pebble Chair 2, the Berex Triple Chair 2 Slim and the Zero Food Waste Processor Microbial Type. In addition to Coway's flagship water purifiers and air purifiers, the lineup includes two products from Berex, the company's sleep and healing care brand.

The Square Fit Air Purifier series was particularly notable, having now won all four of the world's major design awards this year — iF, Red Dot, IDEA and the Good Design Award. It marks the first time the same product line has swept all four prizes in a single year.

The two Berex massage chairs were recognized for designs that blend furniture aesthetics with massage functionality. The Berex Pebble Chair 2 features an ergonomic SSL frame that conforms closely to the body from head to thigh. The Berex Triple Chair 2 Slim is about 9 percent smaller than its predecessor and conceals its wheels within the frame, improving ease of movement.

The recently launched Zero Food Waste Processor Microbial Type also made the winners' list. The recognition carries added significance as Coway expands its product portfolio beyond home appliances into sleep and healing care categories.

Netmarble acquired Coway in February 2020. Since then, the company has maintained its existing home appliance business — covering water purifiers, air purifiers and bidets — while using the Berex brand to push into mattresses and massage chairs. In August, Coway won main prizes at the 2026 IDEA Design Award for the Square Fit Air Purifier and the Inverter Dehumidifier 23L, extending its consecutive IDEA winning streak to 17 years.

"Coway's design philosophy — one that considers not only a product's core function but also the customer's lifestyle and living space — is earning recognition worldwide," said Hwang Jin-sang, head of Coway's Design Lab research center. "We will continue to set the standard for premium home appliances that enrich customers' lives through innovative design and technology."