iF Design Lifetime Achievement Award 2026
Patricia Urquiola
The Lifetime Achievement Award aims to honor icons who have changed the tone of what is considered excellence in design: People that have made history and shaped the design world as we know it today! We want to honor these selected icons for their outstanding contributions to the global design community.
This year's iF Design Lifetime Achievement Award goes to Patricia Urquiola!
The internationally influential Spanish-born designer and architect Patricia Urquiola has been honored with the iF Design Lifetime Achievement Award 2026.
As one of the most significant female designers worldwide, she has shaped the international design landscape for decades – with works ranging from iconic furniture designs to globally acclaimed interior projects. Her creations for leading global brands regularly set new standards.
With her distinctive approach, which combines sensuality, material exploration, and technological innovation, she is regarded as one of the most respected designers of our time.
Lord Norman Foster receives the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2025: Watch his inspiring speech in the video
The renowned British designer and architect Lord Norman Foster designed more than 80 products, product systems, vehicles, and over 100 iconic buildings such as ‘The Gherkin’ in London, the Millennium Tower in Japan and the glass dome of the Reichstag in Berlin.
His work has had a lasting impact on the world of architecture. As Prof. Fritz Frenkler put it in his laudatory speech: "His works have a soul. A calm precision that makes us feel that someone has really thought about the human-being."
Hear it in Lord Norman Fosters own inspiring words in his personal and emotional speech in the video!
Dieter Rams received inaugural iF Design Lifetime Achievement Award 2024
In 2024, the first ever iF Design Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to design icon Dieter Rams. Rams' work has influenced many of the most famous industrial designs. He inspired Apple's former design guru and pioneer of today's smartphone design, the British designer Jonathan Ive. Rams' ten principles for good design still serve as guidelines for designers today, helping them to organise their thoughts on what constitutes good design. Dieter Rams first entered the design world as a carpenter, then began working as an architect, and has been the copyright holder of minimalist product design for decades. Many of the products he designed for Braun have won the iF DESIGN AWARD over the years.