This Year’s Designer Dozen Award Winners Aren’t Afraid to Color Outside the Lines

IT’S BEEN 10 YEARS now since VMSD initially launched its Designer Dozen awards. Since its inception, many of our winners have gone on to do some amazing things in the retail industry. We’ve been lucky to have a few of them hold positions on our Editorial Advisory Board or speak at VMSD’s International Retail Design Conference (IRDC) throughout the years too.

Highlighting up-and-coming designers and visual merchandisers, ages 35 and under, the Designer Dozen awards honor young professionals making a difference at their places of work and in the world at large. Many of our 2022 winners are involved in charitable organizations and mentorship programs, going above and beyond their day-to-day responsibilities to give back.

When it comes to their store design chops, a handful of this year’s winners also remind us that retail’s reach goes far beyond apparel stores, mass merchants and restaurants. One winner, for example, creates interactive experiences and shops aboard cruise ships – when you think of those expansive passenger vessels, does “retail” often come to mind?

It’s no secret that retaining employees the past couple years hasn’t been easy. In August 2021 alone, a record 4.3 million people reportedly left their jobs in the U.S. – roughly 892,000 of them from food service and another 721,000 from retail, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Now more than ever, it’s imperative to have a supportive work environment that allows your young talent to flourish. As retail design begins to challenge old boundaries through strategy and approach, it’s refreshing to have creatives on your team willing to push those boundaries with you, those not hesitant to “color outside the lines.”

And that’s exactly what our 2022 Designer Dozen represent: unconventional thinkers. A snapshot of the exceptional talent the retail community has to offer, they exemplify the future generation of store design and visual merchandising. This is just one of the many reasons we feel it’s so important to showcase these rising stars on an annual basis – let’s celebrate those pushing the envelope in order to grow this amazingly imaginative industry. And help us keep an eye on them in the years ahead. We can’t wait to see what they accomplish next!