Some of the world’s finest examples of interior design get an international spotlight at INSIDE World Festival of Interiors, an annual event in Amsterdam celebrating “creativity, inspiration, and knowledge in the interiors industry.”

Planned for December 4th – 6th at RAI Amsterdam, INSIDE is the sister event to the celebrated World Architecture Festival, which tends to get a lot more media coverage. But aren’t the insides of buildings often just as interesting as the exteriors?

If you’re curious about emerging interior design trends, want to see how the latest cutting-edge materials are being used, or you’re just craving some inspiration for your own spaces, INSIDE is a great place to start.

The three-day festival attracts entrants from some of the biggest names in architecture and design along with exciting new players, and all of the variety to be found among the selections is truly dazzling to behold. It’s also interesting to see where most of these designs are popping up, and which firms are repeatedly nominated for multiple projects.

INSIDE just revealed its awards shortlist for 2019, which includes 543 projects from 70 different countries. In December, a single overall winner will be chosen, but that’s still a few months away. For now, let’s just revel in all of the beauty to be found in each of nine major categories: retail, residential, offices, hotels, health and education, display, creative re-use, civic culture and transport, and bars and restaurants.

Just like last year, a major recurring theme among all entries — not just those in the Creative Reuse category — is sustainability, pointing to what could be a lasting movement rather than a temporary trend. Hopefully that means we’ll see an even greater focus on themes like green materials and recyclability in new architectural and design projects of all sorts in the months to come.

Here are just a few standouts from each category. To see the rest, head to InsideFestival.com, where you can also find a selection of exclusive content like podcasts, features, and project presentations from previous years.

Karavanstop Café — One Bite Design Studio, Lantau, Hong Kong — Bars and Restaurants

Bedok Public Library — ONG&ONG, Singapore — Civic Culture and Transport

LocHal Library — Mecanoo architecten, Tilburg, Netherlands — Creative Reuse

SHENZHEN CINE SKY CINEMA — One Plus Partnership, Shenzhen, China — Civic Culture and Transport

Shenzhen-HongKong International Center — S.U.N DESIGN INC., China — Display

The University of South Australia Cancer Research Institute — SPA and BVN, Adelaide, Australia — Health and Education

Dream and Maze, The Other Place. Guilin Litopia — Studio 10, Guilin, China — Hotels

B:Hive, Smales Farm — BVN in association with Jasmax, Auckland, New Zealand — Offices

Tahoe — PAL Design Group, Hong Kong, China — Offices

Original Villa — VBD Creative Design Center, Hangzhou, China — Residential

Banu Flagship Restaurant — Studio Link-Arc + Kane A|UD, Zhengzhou, China — Bars and Restaurants

Gift Shops of National Museum of Qatar — Koichi Takada Architects, Doha, Qatar — Retail