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FDSA 2025: 5 young Malaysian designers to look out for

April 15, 2025
by Aisha Capulong

Having made it through two defining rounds for the 2025 Future Design Star Award, these 5 students received their ultimate winning titles at this year's DOTY Awards — gaining regional-level recognition in front of a crowd of Malaysia's first-class designers

Five design students across this year’s participating institutions came away from the DOTY Awards Gala Dinner with winning titles championing their work on a regional level. First going through an institution-level evaluation by the 2025 Future Design Star Award (FDSA) panel of judges, the numerous student entries were narrowed down to just three finalists per learning establishment.

The finalists then competed in a decisive regional-level assessment where they went up against all other top three projects from this year’s group of institutions. It’s fair to say: the regional level of the inaugural FDSA was an exciting affair. A live presentation allowed the judges a chance to identify the students with the most potential as young designers to look out for in the near future.

Presenting — the crowned winners of the 2025 FDSA.

2025 Future Design Star Award recipients
Gold
Aw Zhen Yang of The One Academy, with project titled A-Way Hotel
FDS 2025
FDS 2025
FDS 2025
Silver
Mandy Wong Po Ying of Mobius Academy, with project titled Cove Boutique Hotel
FDS 2025
FDS 2025
FDS 2025
Bronze
Lee Zhu Ying of First City University College, with project titled The Food Justice Centre
FDS 2025
FDS 2025
FDS 2025
Merit
Tanish A/L Veerapandian of MTTC College, with project titled JD Sports Office HQ
FDS 2025
FDS 2025
FDS 2025
Merit
Wong Jie Ming of The One Academy, with project titled Forge Gen-Ration
FDS 2025
FDS 2025
FDS 2025
The defining FDSA 2025 Live Presentation

Courtesy of the 2025 DOTY Awards’ Silver Partner Guocera, the FDSA 2025 Live Presentation took place at the brand new Verticas Gallery in Kuala Lumpur, where this year’s panel of judges were able to size up the best from the pool of institution-level finalists. As these students freshly venture out into the industry, it is clear from their work and ingenuity that they are on track to become some of Malaysia’s brightest young designers. Here’s a look at the exciting session!

More on the inaugural Future Design Star Award

The 15th installation of the DOTY Awards saw the introduction of an exciting new category: the Future Design Star Award! This new award initiative seeks to discover and platform young talents within verified design institutions across the nation whose work reveals an immense level of potential for the industry.

With a system in place unlike other student awards, ACGMEDIA worked directly with a handful of distinguished schools and academies across Malaysia to bottleneck only the very best projects — eliminating the ambiguity of participants and solidifying the relationship between institutions and its award candidate students.

For more information, head to the official Designer of the Year (DOTY) Awards website at www.doty.com.my