INTRODUCING THE MUSE HOTEL AWARDS
PANEL OF JUDGES

United Kingdom

Paul Vick

Founder, Paul Vick Architects

Paul Vick is a professional, Chartered RIBA architect and Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He has lectured at UCL and MIT. His work has been published in Architect’s Journal and World Architecture News amongst others. He trained at Cambridge University and Oxford Brookes University with extended periods in Washington DC and Beijing. He is a juror for the International Property Awards.

Portugal

Tiago do Vale

Senior Architect, Tiago do Vale Architects

As an architect from the University of Coimbra, Tiago is the current Senator and Member of the Assembly of the University. He is also an editor for the Design Media Publishing’s “Urban Complex” book, and its Chinese edition by Liaoning Science and Technology Publishing House “城市综合体”. With his books published throughout the world, Tiago do Vale has given lectures and signed articles on architecture, urban planning and rehabilitation in several publications.

Tiago do Vale regularly lectures and writes about architectural matters. Do Vale was a curator of the 2014's "Urban Dialogues, International Architecture Congress", in Portugal and of the 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 editions of the “Mesturas, International Architecture Encounters Galicia-Portugal” (Spain and Portugal).

He was a juror for several prestigious awards worldwide during 2016 and 2017 in Moldavia, and Portugal, as well as for the Architecture MasterPrize since its 2020 edition.

Austria

Jan Svoboda

President, Heritage Hotels of Europe

Jan is an experienced hotelier, being the President of Heritage Hotels of Europe, who manages more than 300 properties around Europe in 13 countries. He has over 20 years of experience in the hotel business and management and is well respected as a speaker on different international forums.

Jan is also awarded with achievements like the Best Historic City of Europe 2016, Hotelier of the Year 2015, and Best Customer Care Historic Hotel of Europe 2015, earning him a few of the biggest accolades in the industry.

Norway

Hans-Petter Bjørnådal

Architect, Bjørnådal Arkitektstudio

Hans-Petter Bjørnådal (1977) is a Norwegian architect, graduated from the Bergen School of Architecture (BAS) in 2003. Besides architecture and scenography, he is focused on the research of nomadic cultures and the connection between the modern man and nature.

His works have been internationally published in Topos, Byggekunst, Architectural Worlds, Architizer, Designboom, and Arch Daily among others. The environmental theatre Klemet was a finalist in the Architizer 2015 + Awards.

Indonesia

Erwin Hawawinata

Principal Architect and Interior Designer, Hawawinata n Associates

Situated in Jakarta, Erwin has more than 20 years of experience in the architecture and interior design industry, mainly focusing on residential projects. Throughout the years, he was directly involved in developing concepts for many accommodations. Therefore, his day-to-day tasks involve him sketching concepts for buildings, choosing the appropriate material needed for construction, and directly supervising the architectural and interior design progress - setting of the furnitures and/or finishings. Erwin established his firm Hawawinata N Associates, in which he designed many residences, private offices, and galleries for the Indonesian crème de la crème. Furthermore, through his many designing endeavors, he has won the 2020 Interior Designer award from Luxury Lifestyle Awards.

Bulgaria

Vasil Velchev

Media & Product Life Cycle Manager, Europe, Ideal Standard International NV

Graduating as a master of electrical engineering, Vasil Velchev actually has more than 10 years of experience as a graphic designer in an international company. In the beginning, product design was more like a hobby, but after some worldwide publications and awards he started to believe more in his ideas.

Several years ago, he started a project called MAGMA which has the purpose to collect all of his creations under one roof. The name was chosen on purpose. It tries to describe the designer's feelings about the original idea that stays at the beginning of every project, to wit: it has to always be in 'liquid' form, to be transformed constantly in order to see every form it could take, to be kept alive till the idea became a solid product.

United States

Alice Li

Director, Cultural Strategy and Innovation, sparks and honey (Omnicom Group)

Alice is a Director of Cultural Strategy and Innovation at sparks & honey (Omnicom Group), a future-focused consultancy that leverages tech-led cultural intelligence to help organizations understand mega and macro global shifts and stay ahead of accelerating change. s&h typically solves three types of problems. NOW: realigning cultural relevance; NEXT: opportunities mapping and prioritization to inform product innovation; FUTURE: global shift stacking, strategic 2030, disruption compass, business transformation. As a quantitative futurist with a decade of experience in foresight and innovation strategy, Alice has consulted with C-suite executives of Fortune 100 businesses to support their decision-making processes. "It is critical for cultural consultancy and futurists to arm the design community with diverse cultural resources, and the skills necessary to identify signals, because this would enable the next generation to future-proof their design choices and become responsible and reflective members of society as they start making meaningful contributions to the world."

New Zealand

Jeremy Smith

Design Director, Irving Smith Architects, Adjunct Professor

Jeremy is the Design Director of Irving Smith Architects, a research-based design practice working in sensitive environments throughout Aotearoa New Zealand and abroad. The practice has won a string of international awards, multiple New Zealand Architecture Awards in public, residential and commercial categories, and have three times represented New Zealand at the Prague International Architecture Festival, where their Soft Context: Soft Architecture exhibitions presented their practice approach of participating with existing landscapes before generating new contexts.
Jeremy writes for Architecture New Zealand, has judged national architecture awards in New Zealand and India, and at World Architecture Festivals in Singapore, Berlin, Amsterdam and Lisbon, while continuing to regularly lecture about the practices work and research around the world. He is the 2023 John G. Williams Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design in Arkansas, USA, an Adjunct Professor at the University of the Free State in South Africa, an International Advisor to the Saveetha College of Architecture and Design in Chennai, India, and formerly an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of Auckland, where he teaches iterative design at Masters-level and undertook a design-based PHD between practice commitments. Key to his practice, teaching and research is understanding how buildings inhabit an environment that constantly undergoes change, be it in city or rural landscapes.

Canada

CHRISTINA KUO

DESIGN DIRECTOR, KUUO LIVING

Christina Kuo specializes in creating exceptional spaces. She has worked within the hospitality and residential design industry in the past few years. Her varied experience and international exposure lends a unique perspective to her work, while being involved in all facets of hospitality projects from conceptual design through design implementation. Her multi-language skills and extensive background in all design areas makes her a diverse and experienced talent from luxury hotels, resorts, spas, retail, restaurants to high-end residential.

Christina is well versed in different design styles and is able to adapt to the requirements befitting each particular project. Her creativity has afforded her the opportunity to work on a wide variety of exciting projects. She delivers a design strategy tailored to the unique demands and challenges of every project and suited to the clients’ needs, schedule parameters and requirements. When she was in design school, she had the privilege to be on juries and really understand the aspirations of young creative minds. By evaluating approximately a hundred creative finalists in the area of architecture and interiors, she understands the importance of listening, understanding, being patient, having a mentor role and conferring an award or judging the merits of a project, maximizing transparency. She has opened new doors to meet and craft a future envisioned by young talent.

United States

Jiaru Lin

3D Senior Global Packaging Designer, Tom Ford Beauty

Jiaru Lin is a packaging designer from Taipei, Taiwan. After obtaining her M.S. Packaging Design at Pratt Institute, she has been working in New York. Jiaru’s project ranges from packaging design, graphic design, and to digital design.

She used to work at Baron&Baron and InterParfums, concentrating on packaging designs for beauty and fashion brands, with clients such as: GUCCI, Dauphin, NARS, Comme des Garçons, Anna Sui, ZARA, Oscar de la Renta, etc. She is currently a packaging designer at Tom Ford Beauty.

Netherlands

Misak Terzibasiyan

Architect-Director (Owner and Founder), UArchitects

The founder and principal Architect of UArchitects (Urban design and Architects), Misak Terzibasiyan, is personally and professionally focused on an international context as well as on the influence of cultural themes. This is mainly based on his ethnical background, as Misak Terzibasiyan was born in Helsinki (Finland).

He studied at the University of Technology in Eindhoven (The Netherlands) and worked with a number of international architectural offices before founding the company in the cultural and architectural icon, the city of Eindhoven. UArchitects is an international office that welcomes different nationalities.

Thailand

Somchana Kangwarnjit

Founder, Prompt Design

Somchana Kangwarnjit graduated from King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang with a degree in industrial design. In 2007, he founded Prompt Design, helping his clients to build brands and businesses by delivering new experiences in strategies and design executions.

China

Ronn Lee

Creative Director, BEAMY

Ronn is a multidisciplinary brand and design creative with over 20 years of industry experience – leading concept, branding, graphic design, interactive and product ideation projects across different industry sectors.

She is the Founding Partner and Creative Director of BEAMY, a branding and multi-disciplinary creative outfit headquartered in Shanghai, with offices in Singapore and New York.

A fearless pioneer, she moved from Singapore to Shanghai and eventually co-founded BEAMY, after discovering China’s burgeoning market potential for branding and creative services. Prior to Shanghai, Ronn worked as an Art Director in Tokyo. Her experience in Singapore, Japan and China has exposed her to vastly different working cultures, creative and design sensibilities.

Till date, Ronn’s works have garnered over 100 international design and creative awards. She is also on the jury panel alongside some of the industry’s greats in a number of international award shows.

United Kingdom

Mark Turner

Creative Director, Kre8ive Partners

Mark Turner is a highly experienced Creative Director skilled in Art Direction, Typography, POS, Web Design, and Print, with a proven track record of working in the retail and private sectors of the Graphic Design industry. He is currently ranked as the top 100 packaging designers in the world.

He is also a member of the International Association of Designers (IAD) and a Creative Partner of the World Design Consortium.

He has won International Design Awards for packaging, branding and has exhibited in the Museum of Design (MOOD) in Italy and has permanent design work in one of the Design Museums in China.

As a traditionally trained designer with over 30 years of experience, with innovative and forward-thinking designs, Mark is passionate about all aspects of design but his greatest love is packaging.

Malaysia

Jae Leong

Judging Committee Chairperson, International Awards Associate (IAA)

As the chairperson of IAA's extensive judging committee, Jae is the forerunner of the organization, leading the way in the pursuit of quality assurance and creative excellence in primary fields like design, creative advertising, marketing communications and video production, and business. She is also one of the primary award representatives at IAA, not to mention her various successful administrations of assessments throughout her career.

Jae also emphasizes on the coordination of strategic arrangements across diverse jury panels, positioning herself as one of the best there is in the industry. With a remarkable perception for management, Jae has overseen her role explicitly, ensuring that each entrant receives the evaluations they so rightfully deserve for their efforts and endeavors. Additionally, working with professionals worldwide has allowed her to be in the center of specialization, developing top-notch communication and relation management skills in the process.

China

ZHOU WEN JUN

Founder, Design Director & Architect, Zhou Wen Jun Design Ltd / 524 STUDIO

Zhou has been invited to United States and Italy as a Jury for several international design awards, while having his work rewarded with a plethora of international awards.
He graduated from the School of Architecture at China Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA), and then majored and graduated with a master's degree in urban image design at the School of Design, also at CAFA.
He is a Cube Awarded Member of New York the Art Directors Club (ADC), Pencil Awarded Member of New York The One Club, Member of The Architectural League New York and a Member of the China Artists Association. Zhou's work has also been published and exhibited globally across countries like United States, Japan, Germany, British, Brazil, China, South Africa, India, Bulgaria, Hong Kong, Singapore, Austria, Chile, South Korea, Slovenia, Thailand, Argentina, France, and Switzerland.

Taiwan

Tony Chen

Area Digital Marketing Manager - Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, IHG ® Hotels & Resorts, InterContinental Kaohsiung

Tony Chen is an Area Digital Marketing Manager for InterContinental Kaohsiung with over 8 years of digital marketing, SEO and SEO copywriting experience. Which enables him to uphold the world-class hotel's already-excellent customer service and revenue management skills with professional proficiency, precise reaction, adaptability, diverse language skills and unyielding patience. Tony Chen helps run the digital marketing aspect of InterContinental Kaohsiung through all digital mediums both globally-used and exclusively used within his home country such as Facebook Ads, Google Ads, YAHOO Native, GSC, GMB, My SQL, LINE Ads Platform, Google Big Query, email marketing and more that he used during his time in previous digital marketing companies before making the switch to the hospitality and tourism industry.

China

Catherine Yu

Founder, CHAMPARTE

The founder of CHAMPARTE DESIGN, Catherine Yu, is an outstanding female design representative of China‘s post80s generation, has been engaged in interior design and art soft decoration for more than ten years. In 2011, CHAMPARTE DESIGN was founded with awe of architecture and interior design. Catherine is good at interpreting the understanding of contemporary space design comprehensively and stereoscopically in the way of metaphor in art and culture.

CHAMPARTE DESIGN hopes that the design can show imagination and poetic lifestyle with elegance. The team of CHAMPARTE DESIGN is composed of design elites from home and abroad, of which 70% are senior designers who have worked for more than ten years and have the international perspective and cross-border integration experience.

United States

Yimeng Teng

Project Architect, Ro Rockett Design

Yimeng is a licensed architect and AIA member in the United States. She currently works for Ro | Rockett Design in Los Angeles as a project architect on large scale residential projects. Yimeng has an undergraduate degree in Highway and Bridge Engineering from Southeast University, and received her Master of Architecture from University of Virginia in 2015. She is a multiple award winner with projects exhibited and media coverage in both United States and China.

Malaysia

Alex Tan

President, NOKUA International

Alex is the President at Nokua International, an award-winning agency, with more than 10 years of experience in both advertising agencies and in-house teams in various roles, including design, art direction, and creative direction. As a President and Creative Director, Alex has created successful initiatives for international brands such as Walt Disney Licensee, DreamWorks Production Licensee, Herbalife, Nu Skin, Cartivia, Avon, Singapore Expo, MPH Bookstores, Garnier etc. Alex is also responsible for company strategy, creative vision, and user experience. He works directly with clients to leverage concept and idea in order to create meaningful experiences designed that inspire and improve clients' brand and peoples' lives. Alex brings his passion for design to Nokua's office by creating a work environment that fosters collaboration and personal growth, and a culture that celebrates a healthy work/play balance. With a focus on creative design, his goal is to create work that is not only beautiful to look at but produces the results a client needs.