Hankook Tire Wins Gold at Italy’s ‘A' Design Award & Competition’

- Earns Gold on its first-ever entry with the Bladder Upcycling Series, developed through the company's ESG upcycling project ‘re:move’
- Reimagines tire manufacturing by-products into furniture, bricks, and lifestyle goods, showcasing the value of resource circulation through innovative design
- re:move project continues to gain global recognition, reinforcing Hankook Tire's design competitiveness on the international stage

Seoul, Korea, July 14, 2026 — A leading global tire company Hankook Tire & Technology (Hankook Tire) has won the Gold Award at the internationally renowned ‘A' Design Award & Competition 2026’, one of the world's most prestigious design competitions.

Recognized as one of the world's leading international design awards, the ‘A' Design Award & Competition’ attracts tens of thousands of entries each year from more than 100 countries across over 100 categories, including product, architecture, fashion, and graphic design. Hankook Tire received the Gold Award, presented only to the top three percent of all entries, for its ‘Bladder Upcycling Series’, created as part of the company's flagship ESG upcycling project ‘re:move’.

The re:move project is Hankook Tire's signature ESG initiative that transforms bladders—the inflatable molds used during the tire curing process—into valuable new resources through creative upcycling. By collaborating with partners across various industries, the project explores new possibilities for resource circulation while continuously expanding Hankook Tire's expertise in material research and sustainable design.

The award-winning Bladder Upcycling Series was jointly developed with ‘DISCO Lab (Design Innovation for Sustainable Circularity Lab)’ at Seoul National University. The collection features a range of products that creatively reinterpret discarded manufacturing materials, including 3D-printed upcycled furniture that highlights the bladder's distinctive layered texture, upcycled bricks that utilize recycled tire molds to create dynamic kinetic wall installations, and handcrafted upcycled keyrings designed as lifestyle accessories. The judges highly praised the series for its innovative interpretation of circular design and resource sustainability.

The collection was first unveiled at the ‘Seoul Design Festival 2025’. This year's recognition is particularly significant as it marks Hankook Tire's first-ever participation in the ‘A' Design Award’, earning a Gold Award upon its debut. The achievement demonstrates the company's global design excellence beyond mobility, extending into material innovation and lifestyle design. The winning works will be permanently exhibited at the Museo del Design in Como, Italy.

The re:move project has continued to earn international recognition for its sustainable design innovation. Its first outcome, the ‘Upcycled Longboard’, previously received the Winner Award in the Concept Design category at the ‘Red Dot Design Award 2024’ in Singapore, one of the world's three major design awards, followed by the ‘2025 Green GOOD DESIGN Sustainability Award’ in the United States, further reinforcing Hankook Tire's ongoing achievements in sustainable design innovation.

Moving forward, Hankook Tire will continue expanding the reuse and recycling of various unused materials while advancing sustainable design innovation. Through these efforts, the company aims to further strengthen its competitiveness as a global brand leading the future mobility era.