Architect Y Tsai heads up Tsai Design Studio, a multidisciplinary design studio working in the field of architecture, interior and furniture. The studio, based in Cape Town, South Africa, strives to produce provocative design solutions that are unconventional, yet instilled with a strong sense of cultural and social relevance within the context of the greater global south.
The studio has won several design accolades and awards, including:
- The Most Beautiful Object in South Africa and the international Red Dot Award for a system of Nested Bunk Beds in 2007
- The South African winner of the International Young Design Entrepreneur Award, sponsored by the British Council in 2008
- The design of Safmarine Sports Center won an Award of Architecture from Cape Institute of Architecture in 2011, and an honorable mention at the Afrisam Award for Sustainable Architecture in 2013
- In 2014, The international Young African Architect Award and was invited to exhibit at the Venice Architectural Biennale.
Tsai is one of the founding members of the Cape Town Design Network and was an interim committee member of Cape Town’s World Design Capital 2014 bid. He is also the Co-founder and Creative Director for Open Design – Cape Town’s annual design festival.
