Elton Group Launches the Think Good Micro-Grant, Backing the Ideas Behind Responsible Design.

Design tends to get celebrated at the finish line—the completed project, the polished photography, the publication moment. But the work that actually moves the industry forward happens long before any of that: the material research, the failed prototypes, the testing and re-testing, the slow and often invisible thinking that innovation depends on. It’s precisely this stage that Elton Group has chosen to support with the launch of the Think Good Micro-Grant, a new annual $5,000 fund for architects, interior designers, furniture designers, makers and students pursuing a sustainable approach to the built environment.

The brief is deliberately open. Applicants are invited to explore an idea connected to responsible design and sustainability, interpreted generously—environmental responsibility, material longevity, circularity, waste reduction, social sustainability, ethical production or the advancement of industry practice. Crucially, the grant seeks outcomes with the potential to do something new, free from the constraints of commerciality. There’s no requirement to work with timber or Elton Group products, and recipients retain full ownership of all intellectual property developed through their project.

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“The Think Good Micro-Grant is our way of putting real support behind the considered design thinking that moves the needle. We want to give designers and makers the time and permission to research, test and follow an idea through,” says Karen Elton, Director of Elton Group.

The initiative is a natural extension of the values that have defined the Melbourne-based company since 1943. As the exclusive Australian distributor of Alpi’s recut timber veneers—including the Alpi Designer Collection developed with the likes of Ettore Sottsass, Patricia Urquiola and Kengo Kuma—Elton Group has long championed longevity, craft and responsible material production. The grant also builds on the company’s seven-year sponsorship of the AIDA Sustainability Advancement Award, broadening a one-night recognition into a year-round contribution to the design community.

The recipient will be selected by a jury comprising Karen Elton (Elton Group), Eva-Marie Prineas (Studio Prineas) and Katherine Featherston (Green Building Council Australia), with the winning project documented from concept through to outcome.

Applications close 11:59pm AEST, Friday 28 August 2026, with the recipient announced in September. Full details and the application form are available via the link below.

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[Images courtesy of Elton Group.]