VANDAL wins big at the 2026 Better Future Australian Design Awards

Creative studio VANDAL has been recognised with five awards at the 2026 Better Future Australian Design Awards, celebrating innovation across exhibition design, motion design, generative AI and equity & inclusion.

The studio received three Gold and two Silver awards for work that spans cultural storytelling, creative technology and large-scale public activation.

Lighting of the Sails: Kiss of Light by David McDiarmid received Gold in the Motion Design category, alongside Silver in both Exhibition Design and Equity & Inclusion. Projected across the sails of the Sydney Opera House for Vivid Sydney 2025, the animated work reinterprets the late artist David McDiarmid’s iconic visual language for a contemporary audience, creating a vivid celebration of queer identity, activism and creative legacy.

Also awarded Gold was Badu Gili: Healing Spirit, a large-scale projection work that played nightly across the Sydney Opera House’s eastern Bennelong sails. The project was a collaboration with Sydney Opera House, Biennale of Sydney and Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain. Recognised in the Exhibition Design category, the work features the art of Bidjigal artists Esme Timbery, Marilyn Russell and Steven Russell and Joseca Mokahesi of the Yanomami People of the Brazilian Amazon.

In the Generative AI category, VANDAL received Gold for The Woman of the Water, a visual centrepiece for the 2026 Sydney New Year’s Eve celebrations, commissioned by the City of Sydney. Using AI as a creative tool, the work reimagines the harbour as a living spirit, blending narrative, technology and public art.

“These awards span disciplines and mediums, which makes them a huge achievement for the whole team,” says Chris Scott, Creative Director at VANDAL.

“They speak to our ability to craft and deliver rich storytelling within highly complex, multidisciplinary production frameworks – especially when working at the scale and cultural significance these moments demand.”

The Better Future Awards are part of a global program celebrating applied design that delivers meaningful economic, social and environmental outcomes. The Australian awards sit within a network of over 3,500 studios and 12,000 brands worldwide.

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