Meet Our Judges for the 2020 Dwell Design Awards

The 2020 Dwell Design Awards honor the most outstanding work featured by Dwell and submitted by our readers this year. Along with community picks chosen by you, winners will be named by an acclaimed panel of judges whose work represents the cutting edge of architecture, interior design, industrial design, and hospitality design.

We’re thrilled to announce the judges who will be identifying the most inspiring projects from a tumultuous year.

Jerome Byron

Los Angeles–based designer and architect Jerome Byron heads studio J BYRON H, whose purview ranges from furniture and interior environments to buildings. Byron draws inspiration from cultural pressures, material conditions, and the junction of old and new methods of construction—it’s an exploratory approach that yields playful, unexpected forms that disrupt our expectations of spaces and objects.

With a Master of Architecture from Harvard and a Bachelor of Architecture from Pratt, Jerome has spent the last 15 years working in Los Angeles, New York, and Berlin with many notable offices including Francis Kéré, Barkow Leibinger, SOM, and Tacklebox NY.

Hilton Carter

Designer, author, and artist Hilton Carter started his journey to plant parenthood with a fiddle-leaf fig named Frank. What started as a practical matter—using plants instead of traditional window treatments—has blossomed into a masterful practice in plant styling, exemplified by his jungle-like residence in Baltimore, Maryland. The "plant doctor" now has a weekly series with Apartment Therapy and has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, HGTV, and Buzzfeed. Carter’s latest book, Wild Interiors: Beautiful Plants in Beautiful Spaces, was released this past April, and he shares his knowledge of plant care to a loyal following on Instagram (@hiltoncarter).

Ryan Chetiyawardana

With countless international accolades, London-based Ryan Chetiyawardana (aka Mr Lyan) has been reshaping the world of gastronomy for over 18 years, one bar at a time. Chetiyawardana has an incredible record of landing his venues on global best-of lists, earning a name as International Bartender of the Year in 2015, one of Business Insider’s most influential figures in food and drink in 2019, and Drinks International’s most influential bar industry figure in 2019. This year, he launched a series as a MasterClass instructor, and his first outpost in the U.S.—Silver Lyan in Washington, DC—earned the title of Best New Bar in America at the Spirited Awards. 

Having given talks on home cocktails around the world, Chetiyawardana aims to bring world-class mixology into our own kitchens with a range of pre-bottled cocktails and a new book, Good Together: Drink & Feast With Mr Lyan & Friends. Needless to say, we’ll absolutely have what he’s having. 

Suchi Reddy

Suchi Reddy, founder of New York City–based architecture and design firm Reddymade, leads the world of design with large-scale cultural, educational, healthcare, retail, commercial, and residential projects. Led by neuroaesthetics—the study of how the brain responds to its environment—Reddy takes a cerebral, yet sensual, approach to human-centric design with diversity and equality in mind.

A member of the Van Alen Institute Leadership Council, Reddy also sits on the board of the Design Trust for Public Space and Storefront, championing inclusive design to cultivate equitable public spaces. She was appointed the Plym Distinguished Professor at the University of Illinois School of Architecture in 2019, and has presented the firm’s award-winning work at The Salk Institute for the Academy of Neuroscience for Architecture’s 2018 conference, the University of Illinois, and the University of Wisconsin. 

Ellen Van Dusen

Born in Washington, DC and currently based in Brooklyn, New York, designer Ellen Van Dusen launched Dusen Dusen in 2010, a clothing and home goods line now instantly recognizable for its bold, original prints and versatile, wearable silhouettes. Whether it be vibrant sweatsuits or graphic pillows, Van Dusen’s work draws from fine art, commercial, and naïve design and explores how the brain reacts to color, movement, and contrast to an undeniably thrilling effect.

Learn more about the 2020 Dwell Design Awards and find out how to submit your project.