The world is built on products, from the structural facade systems that protect our buildings to the plush rugs that make a house a home. It’s this importance and attention to detail that’s celebrated in AN’s Best of Products Awards. The 2024 edition is now back for its tenth year. It seeks to crown the top consumer-facing, B2B, and collectible releases from manufacturers, designers, engineers, and artisans.
To determine this year’s winners, AN has rounded up a jury of design experts, educators, and architects. The panel will review submissions considering criteria like craft, materiality, innovation, performance, sustainability, and social impact. Winners for last year’s awards program, for instance, saw renewed interest in products that help improve hygiene and healthy lifestyle choices, cater to the needs of overlooked communities, and cut down on waste.
Submissions are currently open for the 2024 Best of Products Awards. Early Bird entry for reduced admission is also currently open until midnight on May 24. After that, regular entry is open until the midnight of July 12. Submit applications before then to have your work reviewed by leading designers and architects. Meet the jurors in this year’s panel below.
Llisa Demetrios | Chief Curator | The Eames Institute of Infinite Curiosity
The youngest granddaughter of Ray and Charles Eames, Llisa Demetrios is a third-generation maker that follows in the footsteps of her grandparents’ creative legacy. She leads The Eames Institute of Infinite Curiosity, a nonprofit that aims to equip everyone with the lessons of Ray and Charles Eames, so that anyone can solve problems through design.
A bronze sculptor herself, Demetrios has previous experience as an archivist at the MoMA and registrar at the Eames Office. A dedicated custodian of the Eames name throughout her design endeavors, she is also a board member of the Eames Foundation and is President of Board of Directors for the Petaluma Arts Center in California.
Jimmie Drummond | Founder and Principal | Drummond Projects
Jimmie Drummond is an architectural designer, educator, lighting artist, and founder of his eponymous practice. As his work touches upon many dimensions of architecture, he is compelled by socially driven causes that spur innovation, accessibility, and social and design equity. He leads housing and experiential hospitality projects that champion African American identity, giving agency to the Black experience. Recently, he completed a 7,800-square-foot Afrofuturist concept restaurant and a multicultural co-working space, both in Washington, D.C. His portfolio also includes community centers, affordable housing, mixed-use developments, and offices—all of which aim to create infrastructure for culturally resilient and vibrant experiences in the North East.
Andre Herrero | Founding Principal | Charlap Hyman & Herrero
Andre Herrero received his architectural training at the Rhode Island School of Design. He worked for David Chipperfield Architects, SANAA, and SO – IL before starting his own firm with Adam Charlap Hyman. In his role as a principal of Charlap Hyman & Herrero (CHH), Andre opened the firm’s Los Angeles office to expand its capabilities bi-coastally, his experience in the field has enabled CHH to take on large scale projects with a flexible and creative approach. Andre ranks among Forbes Magazine’s “30 Under 30” in its art and style category.
Lisa Iwamoto | Founding Partner | IwamotoScott Architecture
Lisa Iwamoto is founding partner of IwamotoScott Architecture which she leads together with her partner, Craig Scott. IwamotoScott has received numerous awards, including the Cooper Hewitt/Smithsonian National Design Award, induction into Interior Design Magazine’s Hall of Fame, the Architectural League’s Emerging Voices and Young Architects, Architectural Record’s Design Vanguard, and over twenty AIA Design Awards. The firm’s work has been published in hundreds of journals and exhibited in numerous museums and galleries. Lisa received her MArch with Distinction from Harvard University, and a bachelor of science degree in structural engineering from the University of Colorado. She is author of Digital Fabrications: Architectural and Material Techniques published in 2009 by Princeton Architectural Press and is professor and chair of the Department of Architecture at the University of California Berkeley.
Brian Messana | Cofounder | Messana O’Rorke
Brian Messana established his New York–based architecture firm with Toby O’Rorke in 1996. Before that, he worked with Peter Marino, Richard Meier & Partners, and Asymptote in New York. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Brian received his masters degree from Columbia University in 1992 and a BArch from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. He is on the board of the Society of American Registered Architects and is a committee member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Custom Residential Architects Network. Brian is a member of the AIA, Architectural League of New York, and International Interior Design Association, among others. He has taught architecture courses at Columbia University, Pratt Institute, the University of Texas at Austin, and the University of Southwestern Louisiana in Lafayette.
Carrie Norman | Founding Partner | Norman Kelley
Carrie Norman is an architect working at the intersection of observation, particularity, and alterations towards an architecture of social, cultural, and critical reuse. She is currently an assistant professor in the Department of Architecture at MIT. In addition to teaching, Norman cofounded the Chicago- and Cambridge-based design collaborative, Norman Kelley. The practice works in the fields of residential architecture, commercial interiors, furniture design, exhibition design, and design criticism. Its work has been published in The New York Times, Log, Avery Review, The Architect’s Newspaper, Cultured, Domus, Dezeen, Wallpaper*, and Frame. Norman Kelley has contributed work to the Venice Architecture Biennial (2014, 2021), the Chicago Architecture Biennial (2015, 2017), and the Lisbon Architecture Triennale (2019). In addition, the practice received a United States Artists Fellowship in Architecture (2018).
Jack Murphy | Executive Editor | The Architect’s Newspaper
Jack Murphy is executive editor of The Architect’s Newspaper. Previously he was editor of Cite: The Architecture and Design Review of Houston and an adjunct professor at the University of Houston. His writing has appeared in Architectural Record, Dwell, Texas Architect, Places, Cite, PLAT, Paprika!, SF Gate, Houston Chronicle, and The New York Review of Architecture, among other publications. He received an Honorable Mention for the Pierre Vago Journalism Award 2020 from the International Committee of Architecture Critics. He earned degrees in architecture from MIT and Rice University and contributed to award-winning architectural practices in Texas, New York, and Massachusetts.
Kelly Pau | Design Editor | The Architect’s Newspaper
Kelly is the design editor at The Architect’s Newspaper and AN Interior where she focuses on covering interior architecture and the projects and firms that shape the beat; product design and trends; and AN’s three awards program: Best of Practice, Best of Products, and Best of Design. Previously, she covered design and architecture across product, interior, and other typologies at COOL HUNTING. Her writing has been featured in Observer, Vox, The Cut, and other national publications.
