It is our pleasure to announce the jury members for the 28th annual Best of Canada Awards competition. They are:
Products
- Dylan Horvath — Cortex Design Inc.
- Anna Kao
- Ranee Lee — DESIGNWith
Projects
- Dom Cheng – Nonument
- Chen Cohen – DIALOG
- David Grant-Rubash – Phaedrus Studio
Dylan Horvath
Founder & CEO, Cortex Design Inc.
A graduate in Systems Design Engineering from the University of Waterloo, Dylan founded Cortex Design in 1999, is a co-inventor on 11 utility patents and has won numerous awards including the Bold Epic Innovator X-Prize for Cloud DX’s Vitaliti Tricorder “Doctor in a box”. His work has appeared in Popular Science, The Huffington Post, The Globe and Mail, Forbes, and Canadian Business’s Fastest Growing Companies. In addition to leading Cortex, Dylan is the co-president of the Association of Canadian Industrial Designers, the Vice President of the Association of Chartered Industrial Designers of Ontario (AIDO), and a regular speaker at events where he advocates for the power of design to expand human capability.
Anna Kao
Anna is an architect based in Toronto and New York City, with expertise in luxury retail design. After finishing her education in Toronto, Anna worked at various firms in Hong Kong, San Francisco and New York City before returning to Canada. She is on the Board of DIAC (Design Industry Advisory Committee) and part of the DesignTO core volunteer team. Anna maintains a dedicated involvement at both non-profit organizations focused on advancing the value and joy of the Toronto design community.
Ranee Lee
Founder, DESIGNwith
Ranee 郭恩琳 is an industrial designer and Associate Professor at OCADU and founder of DESIGNwith, an innovation lab for circular economy and social innovation. She holds an MA in participatory design, a SSHRC project on alternative economies in marginalized communities, and is currently focusing on care and culture projects to move towards Form Follows Care.
![]()
![]()
Dom Cheng
Dom ChengOwner & Principal, Nonument
Dom is a registered architect with the Ontario Association of Architects with over 20 years of experience accumulated at award-winning firms across North America. His works have been published in Canadian Architect, Canadian Interiors, Designlines, Protocol (Universität der Künste Berlin), On Site Review, POOL (UCLA), Paprika! (Princeton), LA+ Journal (UPenn), Drawing Futures (Bartlett), Warehouse Journal, The Globe and Mail, and Testing Ground Journal (University of Greenwich).
![]()
Chen Cohen
Chen CohenPartner, Dialog Design
Cohen, known simply by her last name, is an award-winning designer celebrated for her expertise in large-scale, complex institutional projects. With a background in both interior design and architecture, Cohen brings a holistic approach to designing buildings from the inside out. A passionate advocate for equitable and universal design, she fosters meaningful conversations around cultural, physical, and gender sensitivities to enrich user experiences. As a Rick Hansen Foundation Accessibility Certification (RHFAC) Professional, she is dedicated to creating inclusive environments that promote meaningful engagement and equitable experiences for all.
David Grant-Rubash
Founder & Principal, Phaedrus Studio
A Kansas native, David has a background in product design, interior architecture, and architecture education in the U.S. and Denmark before joining established New York and Toronto-based architecture firms. Before launching Phaedrus Studio, David cut his teeth in corporate interiors, and has since built a body of work from retail and hospitality to private residences and missing middle housing. Currently an adjunct professor at Toronto Metropolitan University’s School of Interior Design, David has previously taught at the Department of Architectural Sciences and Ontario College of Art and Design.
