Press Release
Regen Biodesign Communication by Sofia Porto Iannuzzi Receives the Bronze A' Design Award in Sustainable Products, Projects and Green Design
The international grand jury of the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition recognizes Sofia Porto Iannuzzi for sustainable products, projects and green design
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 15, 2026 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has announced that Regen Biodesign Communication by Sofia Porto Iannuzzi, designed for Universidad de Monterrey, has been granted the Bronze A' Design Award in the Sustainable Products, Projects and Green Design category. The result belongs to the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition and was decided through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who evaluated anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
The Bronze A' Design Award Explained
The Bronze A' Design Award is given to outstanding designs that showcase a high degree of creativity and practicality. It recognizes the dedication and skill of designers who produce work that stands out for its thoughtful development and innovative use of materials and technology. These designs are acknowledged for their professional execution and potential to influence industry standards positively. Winning this award highlights the designer's ability to blend form and function effectively, offering solutions that enhance people's lives and wellbeing.
Regarding Regen Biodesign Communication
Regen introduces a graphic system where living root structures function as both visual language and material substrate. Instead of printing on inert surfaces, communication emerges through controlled biological growth. Each artifact operates simultaneously as a visual message, living organism, and biodegradable outcome. By aligning legibility with ecological cycles, the project reframes graphic production as a regenerative process, proposing an alternative model where communication evolves, transforms, and reintegrates into natural systems rather than generating waste.
Award Record
This recognition makes Sofia Porto Iannuzzi a winner of 1 A' Design Award.
About the A' Sustainable Products, Projects and Green Design Award
The A' Sustainable Product Design Award is an international design competition recognizing good sustainable products by leading designers and brands worldwide. It is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to sustainable product designers, green product manufacturers, eco-friendly product brands and industrial designers from all countries. Typical entries include sustainable projects, environment friendly designs, recycled, upcycled and bio-degradable products. The awarded sustainable product designs are published at https://designers.org/design-category/sustainable-product
About A' Design Award & Competition
Organized annually since 2008, A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The philanthropic mission of the A' Design Award is to advance society through good design, by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Nominations are peer reviewed and evaluated anonymously by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. Eligible laureates receive the A' Design Prize, which includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, uploading a work and receiving a preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. More information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://designers.org/180685
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/180685
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!180685
- Laureate Profile: https://designers.org/d/379359
- Further Information from the Laureate: https://www.instagram.com/hi.regen?igsh=ZWFtcGJzMmhhYTJn
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
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Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- Regen Biodesign Communication
- Function
- Biodesign Communication
- Category
- Sustainable Products, Projects and Green Design
- Discipline
- Industrial Design
- Industry
- Sustainability
- Colors
- Gray, Rosy Brown, Dim Gray, Gainsboro and Dark Olive Green
- Images
- 5
- Client
- Universidad de Monterrey
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Sofia Porto Iannuzzi
- Country
- Mexico
- Recognition
- Bronze A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2025 - 2026
- Design ID
- #180685
Credits
- Image Credits
- Main: Photographer Sofia Porto, Living Poster Series, 2025.; Photographer Sofia Porto, Root-Based Artifact, 2025.; Photographer Sofia Porto, Root Structure Close-Up, 2025.; Photographer Sofia Porto, Biodegradable Artifact Detail, 2025.; Photographer Sofia Porto, Biodesign Poster Outdoor, 2025. Image #5Photographer Sofia Porto, Root Textile Surface, 2025.
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- Regen uses cultivated root structures as both visual language and material substrate for communication. Instead of printing on inert surfaces, the message emerges through controlled biological growth. The project replaces linear production logic with a regenerative cycle: cultivation, communication, transformation, and natural reintegration. Each artifact operates simultaneously as a graphic piece, living organism, and biodegradable outcome. Regen positions biological growth as a design medium, proposing a scalable approach to regenerative visual communication.
- Inspiration
- Regen transforms biological growth into a functional medium for communication, replacing inert graphic surfaces with living systems. Instead of relying on extractive, synthetic, and disposable substrates, the project proposes a regenerative alternative rooted in living processes. Informed by biodesign research and circular thinking, Regen studies root growth behavior and material life cycles to develop living graphic substrates. The result is a shift from static surfaces toward evolving visual systems that actively participate in ecological regeneration.
- Research
- Regen investigates root domestication as a reproducible substrate for graphic communication. Through iterative cultivation and material testing, the project evaluates structural integrity, visual legibility, and ecological performance. Circularity was assessed using the Material Circularity Indicator (MCI), demonstrating measurable improvements across prototype iterations and identifying pathways to eliminate remaining linear support materials. Circularity was assessed using the Material Circularity Indicator (MCI), demonstrating quantifiable improvement across prototype iterations and identifying pathways to eliminate remaining linear support materials.
- Challenge
- The main challenge was reconciling graphic precision with biological unpredictability. Root growth is inherently variable, requiring a design approach that balances control and emergence. Constraints included growth variability, time dependency, structural fragility, and environmental sensitivity. The solution required designing adaptive systems rather than fixed compositions.
- Realization and Technology
- The project utilizes root domestication techniques, biodegradable substrates, controlled humidity environments, and mold-guided growth systems to direct biological formation into legible graphic structures. Analog prototyping, material testing, and circularity assessment were integrated to align organic growth with visual clarity and structural stability.
- Operation and Interaction
- Regen artifacts are cultivated through guided root domestication rather than mechanically assembled. Growth patterns are influenced through mold-guided pathways and environmental calibration, including humidity, light, and substrate density. Interaction occurs over time, as viewers experience gradual transformation, texture emergence, and organic variability. After fulfilling its communicative function, the artifact decomposes naturally, completing a regenerative material cycle.
- Project Duration and Location
- Developed between January and November 2024 in Monterrey, Mexico, Regen was produced through experimental research and prototyping at Universidad de Monterrey as part of an academic design research initiative focused on regenerative graphic systems.
- Specifications
- Artifact dimensions vary according to biological growth. Poster-scale applications range from approximately 300 × 420 mm to 500 × 700 mm. Thickness depends on root density accumulation. All materials are plant-based, compostable, and designed for full biological reintegration.
- Keywords
- Regenerative Design, Biodesign, Visual Communication, Living Materials, Circular Systems, Material Innovation
