Two Good Design Awards, One Vision for the Future of Assistive Technology

Ennova’s Oasis Shower Chair has received two prestigious honours at the 2026 Australian Good Design Awards, recognising a new approach to assistive technology that brings together clinical functionality, thoughtful design and a greater sense of belonging in the home.

We’re incredibly proud to share that the Oasis Shower Chair has been recognised with two awards at the 2026 Australian Good Design Awards:

• Gold Winner in Product Design, Medical and Scientific

• Best in Class in Product Design, Furniture and Lighting

For a small Australian design company driven by the belief that assistive technology can and should be better, this recognition means more than we can put into words.

To be recognised across both medical product design and furniture design is particularly meaningful. These two disciplines have often been treated as separate considerations in assistive technology. For us, they’ve always been inseparable.

These awards represent an encouraging step towards the future we hope to help create: one where mobility aids are celebrated for their functionality, but also for their ability to fit naturally into the lives, personalities and homes of the people who use them.

Recognising Clinical Innovation: A Gold Good Design Award

The Oasis Shower Chair was awarded a 2026 Australian Good Design Award Gold in the Medical and Scientific category, recognising its human-centred approach to assistive technology design.

Developed through extensive clinical engagement, co-design and user feedback, the Oasis Chair challenges the idea that clinical functionality must come at the expense of comfort, aesthetics or personal dignity.

From its innovative bi-directional armrests, which accommodate different transfer approaches, to its soft silicone seating, adjustable height and compact pack-down design, every element has been considered in relation to how people move, live and interact with their environment.

In awarding the Gold accolade, the Good Design Awards Jury recognised the chair’s ability to balance clinical performance with the emotional and practical needs of its users.

“The Jury recognises the Oasis Shower Chair as an exemplary piece of human-centred design that meaningfully reframes assistive technology by balancing clinical performance with dignity and comfort.”

The Jury also acknowledged the chair’s potential to challenge institutional aesthetics, reduce stigma and encourage greater adoption of mobility aids.

For our team, this recognition is especially important. It reinforces our belief that the success of assistive technology should not be measured solely by its clinical performance, but also by how well it supports the person using it.

Explore the Oasis Shower Chair’s Gold Good Design Award recognition.

Rethinking Assistive Furniture: Best in Class

Alongside its medical design recognition, the Oasis Shower Chair received the 2026 Australian Good Design Award Best in Class in the Furniture and Lighting category.

This award holds particular significance for Ennova.

When we began developing the Oasis Chair, we questioned why products designed to support people in their own homes so often looked and felt like they belonged in clinical environments.

Why should someone’s mobility determine the aesthetic of the products they live with? Why should a piece of assistive technology feel out of place in a thoughtfully designed home?

We believe people should never have to choose between products that meet their functional needs and products that reflect their personal preferences.

The Oasis Chair was designed around this philosophy, bringing together clinical consideration, contemporary furniture design and practical features that support independence in everyday routines.

In its assessment, the Good Design Awards Jury described the Oasis Chair as:

“A thoughtful and socially impactful reimagining of assistive furniture that successfully bridges therapeutic functionality with domestic aesthetics.”

The Jury further recognised the importance of design leadership in healthcare, concluding:

“This product sets the standard for design excellence in this category.”

To receive this recognition in a furniture category, alongside established expectations of design excellence, is a meaningful moment for our team.

It suggests that assistive technology doesn’t need to sit outside the conversation about beautiful, functional and thoughtfully designed products for the home.

It deserves to be part of it.

Read the Oasis Shower Chair’s Best in Class Good Design Award recognition.

Why the Future of Assistive Technology Needs a Different Approach

Assistive technology plays an essential role in supporting mobility, safety, independence and quality of life. Yet the experience of using these products extends far beyond their technical specifications.

How a product looks, how it feels, how easily it can be used and stored, and how comfortably it fits into someone’s home can all influence their relationship with it.

We believe these considerations deserve the same attention as clinical functionality.

A mobility aid can meet its technical requirements and still feel uncomfortable, inconvenient or disconnected from the person using it. When products don’t fit naturally into someone’s life, there is a risk they may be used less frequently or abandoned altogether.

This is one of the challenges we are passionate about addressing.

Our ambition is to contribute to a future where assistive technology is designed around the whole person: their functional capacity, their environment, their preferences and their everyday routines.

Where thoughtful design helps remove barriers to adoption, rather than creating new ones.

And where products that support independence are also products people feel comfortable and confident having in their homes.

We know that changing long-established expectations within an industry doesn’t happen overnight. But we believe meaningful change begins by questioning why things have always been done a certain way, and having the determination to explore something better.

A Small Australian Company with a Bigger Ambition

Ennova was founded on a simple belief: people deserve better choices in assistive technology.

Bringing the Oasis Shower Chair to life has required an enormous amount of dedication, persistence, collaboration and learning. Like many small businesses developing something new, our journey has involved challenges, difficult decisions and countless hours refining the details.

But our motivation has remained the same.

We want to help create an assistive technology industry that considers not only what a person needs a product to do, but also how that product makes them feel and how it fits into their life.

These two Good Design Awards are an incredibly encouraging acknowledgement of that ambition.

They don’t mean our work is finished. In many ways, we feel we’re only just beginning.

There is so much opportunity to rethink the design of everyday mobility aids and to challenge the assumptions that have shaped the industry for decades.

We hope the Oasis Chair can contribute to a broader conversation about what assistive technology could become, and encourage others to see inclusive design not as a compromise, but as an opportunity for innovation.

Thank You for Believing in a Different Future

We’re deeply grateful to Good Design Australia and the independent Jury for recognising the Oasis Shower Chair across two distinct design categories.

We’re equally grateful to the clinicians, occupational therapists, people with lived experience, carers, designers and collaborators who have contributed their perspectives, knowledge and expertise throughout the development process.

And to everyone who has supported Ennova, shared our vision, challenged our thinking or welcomed the Oasis Chair into their home, thank you.

For a small Australian company with a genuine passion for changing the industry for the better, this recognition means an enormous amount.

Our hope is that one day, thoughtful, beautiful and clinically considered assistive technology won’t be seen as something unusual or innovative.

It will simply be what people expect and deserve.

And that’s a future we’re incredibly motivated to keep working towards.