Lifestyle
The Design Hunger Prizes Summer 2026 
Each season, the team at Design Hunger takes a look at the lineup of lifestyle and accessory brands that will exhibit at Playtime Paris to select the standouts. These brands are then awarded the Design Hunger Prizes for the season. These prizes identify them as unique labels bringing something new to the market. Let’s turn the microphone over to Grethel, Design Hunger’s founder, to see what brands she and her team awarded this season and why!
“Twice a year, we pack our bags for Paris and head to Playtime, the children’s trade show that has, edition after edition, managed to surprise us.
With Playtime comes the moment we love most, announcing the Design Hunger Prizes. Each edition, we put together our selection: five lifestyle and accessory brands that caught our attention for their design, their craft, and the particular way they see childhood. The ones that brought something genuinely considered to the table – a point of view, a material choice, a world that feels entirely their own. Here are our winners!”
“Born from a simple and brilliant idea, Noonchi brings a 100% non-toxic, compostable, soft play dough made entirely from food bio ingredients. Safe for the youngest hands, it’s kind to the planet as well. Water soluble, environmentally friendly, and designed to keep toddlers buys while parents get on adulting.
Thoughtful, aware, and genuinely good. Exactly the kind of new brand we love to discover at Playtime.”
“Founded in Denmark, MinEgen creates personalized, hand-embroidered textiles for children. Rooted in Scandinavian craft heritage, they’re made from soft, sustainable linen. With over 100 embroidered designs to choose from, like your astrological, every piece is entirely unique to the family it belongs to.
What makes MinEgen truly special is the story behind it. It’s born from a founder’s lifelong love of handicraft and a desire to create something that carries memory, meaning, and love forward.”
“The name is a manifesto. Choose Kind designs shoes, bags, brooches, hair accessories, postcards, and diaries for children — all made with natural fibers, natural colors, zero waste, and biodegradable packaging. Every detail is considered, from the materials to the box it arrives in.
Choose Kind brings a joyful, consciously made world to children’s accessories that is genuinely hard to resist.”
“Oda London was born from a simple, but powerful, belief: that every space should tell a story. Designed in London and crafted with care, the brand brings lively prints, rich colors, and soft textures into children’s interiors. They create pieces that feel joyful, personal, and genuinely alive.
Sustainability sits at the heart of everything Oda does — from organic, earth-friendly dyes and responsibly sourced materials to entirely plastic-free, recycled packaging.”
“Blue Ribbon designs wooden toys built around one clear conviction: that the best play is purposeful. Every piece in the range is mapped to a child’s developmental milestone, from sensory and functional play in the earliest months, through constructive and pretend play as children grow, ensuring that what they reach for always supports where they actually are.
The range spans baby and toddler toys, dollhouses, rhythmic instruments, construction sets, pretend play, and children’s furniture, all designed and produced with care.”
Thank you to Grethel and her team for sharing why they awarded each of the Design Hunger Prizes! Congratulations to the winners, whose collections we can’t wait to discover soon in Paris. Get your pass here to meet them there June 27-29!
Grethel will also be hosting Brand Image Consulting at Playtime Paris again this season. Brands can book an appointment with her to discuss visual identity, logos, graphic guidelines, and image creation.
Keep an eye out for stickers like this on the winner’s booths!
