Babybee’s ALTO Wins Good Design Award for Australian-First Folding Bassinet

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA, November 2026

Australian-owned pram brand Babybee has been named a winner at the 2026 Australian Good Design Awards for its ALTO Premium Single Pram, marking another major design award for the Melbourne-based company.

The Australian Good Design Awards are among the world's longest-running international design award programs and recognise excellence in design, innovation and impact.

Entries are independently assessed by an expert jury across three overarching criteria: Good Design, Design Innovation and Design Impact.

For product design, that assessment looks beyond appearance. Judges consider functionality, usability, quality of design, originality and whether a product has the potential to challenge conventional industry practice and set a higher benchmark.

Those principles are closely aligned with the way Babybee developed ALTO.

ALTO brings new thinking to the premium single pram

Launched in Australia in 2026, the Babybee ALTO Premium Single Pram was designed around a simple question: what are parents still putting up with that could be designed better?

One of the biggest areas of focus was the bassinet.

Traditional pram bassinets are large and rigid, which means parents often need to remove them before folding the pram and then find space to store them separately in the car or at home.

ALTO introduces an Australian-first folding bassinet, allowing the bassinet to collapse as part of the pram fold.

The pram can then be folded one-handed into a free-standing position with the bassinet still attached.

ALTO can also fold with the seat attached in either direction, giving parents the convenience of a compact, one-handed fold without losing the comfort, storage, suspension and capability expected from a full-sized premium pram.

Babybee Founder and CEO Emily Stone said the product reflects the company's approach to innovation.

"For us, innovation has to solve a real problem. There is no point adding features just so we can say something is new," Stone said.

"With ALTO, we looked at the frustrations parents deal with every day, like bulky bassinets, awkward folds, heavy frames and difficult handling, and asked whether they could be designed better."

"The folding bassinet is the most obvious example because you can instantly see the benefit, but there is a huge amount of design and engineering behind the whole pram."

"To have that recognised by the Australian Good Design Awards means a lot to our team."

Australian design and engineering behind ALTO

ALTO combines its folding system with a lightweight aeronautical-grade aluminium frame, precision ball bearings, advanced all-wheel suspension and Babybee's FlexCell™ wheel technology.

The aim was to create a pram that gives parents the comfort and capability of a full-sized model while making it easier to fold, lift, store and use every day.

The pram was developed over several years, with Babybee drawing on feedback and real-world experience from Australian parents throughout the design process.

That way of working has become a core part of Babybee's product development.

Rather than simply looking at what already exists in the market, the team uses parent feedback to identify recurring frustrations and then works with designers and engineers to solve them.

The result has been a growing range of Australian-designed prams recognised for both design and innovation.

ALTO continues Babybee's Good Design Award success

The ALTO win follows Babybee JUNO receiving a Gold Australian Good Design Award in 2025.

Designed in Australia, JUNO rethought the traditional single-to-double tandem pram with two equal full-sized seats, more than 48 configurations, a 15kg shopping basket and the ability to fold into a free-standing position with one or two seats attached.

Previous Babybee products including ROVER3 and DUO2 have also received Australian Good Design Awards.

Together, the awards show a clear progression in Babybee's product development, from an Australian direct-to-consumer challenger brand to a business increasingly focused on original design, engineering and product innovation.

Stone said that evolution is something the company is proud of.

"Australia is not traditionally seen as the centre of pram design, but there is no reason an Australian company cannot lead in this category," she said.

"We do not want to take what already exists internationally and make another version of it."

"We want to create products that genuinely move the category forward. We are close to our customers, we listen carefully to what parents tell us and we are willing to spend years refining products until we feel we have solved the problem properly."

"That combination of customer insight, industrial design and engineering has become one of Babybee's biggest strengths."

A major year of awards for Babybee

The 2026 Australian Good Design Award for ALTO follows a strong year of recognition for Babybee across its pram, nursery, travel and baby product ranges.

At the 2026 Bounty Baby Awards, Babybee received 10 awards, including seven Gold Awards, and was named Best Australian Brand and Best Up & Coming Brand.

Babybee's JUNO Single to Double Pram received Gold for Best Double Pram and Best Pram Over $1,000, while Babybee products also received Gold awards across travel, nursery and developmental categories.

The brand also received nine awards at the 2026 Mum Central Awards, including Gold for Best Brand of the Year.

JUNO was named Product of the Year and Best Double Pram, making 2026 the second consecutive year Babybee was voted Mum Central's Best Brand of the Year.

The combination of consumer awards and design awards is particularly significant for the company.

The consumer awards reflect the experience of parents buying and using the products, while the Australian Good Design Awards assess the thinking, innovation and design behind them.

Stone said both types of recognition matter.

"The parent-voted awards tell us people genuinely love using our products, while the Good Design Awards recognise the work that goes into designing them."

"Both are important to us because ultimately the goal is the same. We want to listen to families and make better products for them."

An Australian brand competing on global design

Babybee began as an Australian direct-to-consumer pram company with a simple idea: parents should not need to pay traditional premium-brand prices to get a well-designed, high-quality pram.

More than a decade later, the company is investing heavily in proprietary product development, industrial design, engineering, advanced materials and original innovation.

Products such as JUNO and ALTO show how far that approach has developed.

Babybee's ambition is no longer simply to offer an Australian alternative to established international pram brands. The company wants Australian-designed products to compete with the best in the world on design, engineering and usability.

"The goal is not to be a good Australian alternative to an international pram brand," Stone said.

"The goal is to design some of the best prams in the world. Being recognised again by the Australian Good Design Awards tells us we are heading in the right direction."

About Babybee

Babybee is an Australian-owned pram and baby products brand based in Melbourne.

Founded as a direct-to-consumer Australian pram company, Babybee designs prams and baby products around extensive parent feedback, real-world testing and a focus on solving everyday problems for modern families.

Its pram range includes the ALTO Premium Single Pram, JUNO Single to Double Pram, LUNA2 Side-by-Side Pram and MILES Travel Stroller, alongside a growing range of nursery, travel and baby products.

Babybee products have received multiple Australian Good Design Awards, Bounty Baby Awards, Mum Central Awards and ProductReview.com.au Awards.

For more information, visit babybeeonline.com.

MEDIA CONTACT
Maddie Stone
Babybee
maddie@babybeeonline.com