See The Winning Products From Etsy’s Very First International Design Awards

When we’re in search of something totally one-of-a-kind — be it a super-specific vintage item or a jaw-droppingly cool handmade piece — we turn to Etsy. Since its inception in 2005, the maker marketplace has cultivated scores of independent designers and curators that consistently impress us with their ingenuity. There’s so much to browse on the creativity-heavy site, in fact, that it can get overwhelming, so it makes sense that Etsy just announced their first-ever Design Awards, to celebrate the best of the best.

Resident Trend Expert Dayna Isom Johnson and a panel of judges (including style expert Joe Zee and writer and illustrator Garance Doré, among others) looked at a combination of criteria — “overall quality of the item, the story behind it, and the immediate WOW factor,” among other things, according to Johnson — to honor six winners that hail from all over the world, specializing in everything from home decor to customizable footwear.

Zee told us that the selection process was “challenging, only because all of the [entries] were so good!” The fashion-industry veteran “particularly loved items with a sense of fun but were still balanced with sophistication and style — [along with] showcasing best-in-class skills and craftsmanship.” Click through to see the six award winners, along with a few runners-up that caught our eye, and prepare to lose a day — and possibly more than a few dollars — browsing the exceptional finds.