Its work on the I Love Ugly pop-up retail system was recognised as a finalist for the retail space up to 150sq m category.
Two pieces of its furniture were also named as finalists - the Hideaway Chair and the Lujo Hammock.
Tauranga had proved to be a perfect place to start the company, he said.
The trio - including former Tauranga Boys' College student Sam Griffin, started as the Y.S Collective straight out of university.
"Tauranga was a great location for us to set-up, partly because we already had connections there but also being so close to Auckland without actually being there, so it was our point of difference.
"It also meant we could afford to set-up a studio."
Tauranga's design community was open, he said.
"There was an amazingly tight little creative community which I don't think you'd get in a big city."
Add that to the fact that it was a beautiful place to live, the city provided everything the start-up company needed until it relocated to Auckland earlier this year.
Woods Creative Agency, based on Mount Maunganui's mainstreet, also proved itself among the country's best, named as a finalist in small brand cultural for its work on Mosaic Church in Mount Maunganui and in environmental graphics for the in-store display of Steens Honey.
Not far away on Newton St, Wave Creative Communications Agency is also among the finalists in the self-promotion category for its Wave Festive Feast Cider.
The agency showed its diversity, also named a finalist in the business communication category for the Trustpower Annual Report.
Devcich & Co. was named a finalist for the design communication category for the Western Bay of Plenty District Council Community Roadshow Portraits of Our Place.
Flightless design was named a finalist in application design for its Taku Tamaki Exhibition - Collect And Connect Multi-User Interactive Table.
As reported in the Bay of Plenty Times Weekend, Locus Research, based at Te Puna's Newnham Park Innovation Centre, is also leading the way in local design, named as a finalist in four categories.
The Utility Bike, an electric farm bike designed by Locus in conjunction with Ubco, and the Automatic Boat Loader 2500, designed by Locus and Balex Marine, are finalists in the consumer category for product design.
Their Inverse hair conditioning system has been named a finalist in concept/experimental product design.
Waihi's Gold Discovery Centre is also finalist in the spatial " exhibition installations and temporary structures category.
Chris Hay, creative director and owner of Locales, was delighted the Gold Discovery Centre was a finalist in the awards.
"The project to create the Gold Discovery Centre was over three years of work, with almost every element of visitor experience design you can think of: spatial design; graphic design; computer games; animations; big mechanical interactives; tiny mechanical interactives and even the country's first ever full-size Ghost Theatre!"
