Established in 2021, the Ralph Saltzman Prize aims to be a patron to upcoming designers working in the field of product design with a keen focus on changing the current practices of design. The annual design award was set up by Lisa Saltzman in honour of her father, and on behalf of the Saltzman Family Foundation. The co-founder and president of Designtex, the leading company in the design and manufacturing of applied materials for the built environment, Ralph Saltzman was a key design figure with an active curiosity and collaborative spirit evidenced by his company’s works. 

As his daughter Lisa Saltzman fondly remembers, "He was an innovator and a pioneer who had a keen eye, great taste and was renowned for his creativity…I know he would be proud to be supporting the best emerging design talent through the prize. The Ralph Saltzman Prize is a significant opportunity for young designers to showcase and develop their talent.” Presented by The Design Museum, London, the annual award is given to young product designers, who have established individual practices less than five years ago. The Design Museum strives to champion new talent in the service of the future of design, and the prize enables the museum to support this vision through a 5000-pound bursary and visibility for the winning designer’s work. This year, the prize was awarded to Attua Aparicio, a London-based multidisciplinary artist whose work is characterised by her attention to material research and an experimentative approach to finding new ways of making things.

The power of design to imagine a better world cannot be emphasised. Far more than before, it has become imperative for designers to direct attention to the needs of a world of dwindling resources, rising global natural catastrophes and economic disparities. And more than ever, young, emerging designers have felt the need to reinvent prevailing practices; experimenting with innovative material research, circular design principles and generally making do with less, while still creating artefacts that are beautiful to use and look at.

Attua will be the third recipient of the award, which was previously granted to designer Marco Campardo in 2023, and product and furniture designer Mac Collins in 2022. Working at the intersection of design, craft, and art, Aparicio tries to ensure a consciousness towards sustainability, material hybridisation and tactility is evident in her work. Her collaborative spirit has previously led her to work alongside her sister, artist Saelia Aparicio, and in co-founding Silo Studio with Oscar Lessing.

As she tells STIR, “For the last five years I have been in a research project looking at different ways of combining waste borosilicate glass with ceramics…I thought that as both glass and ceramics need high temperatures to melt they could perhaps be combined. My way of testing is a mix of rigorous hands-on testing and intuitive decision-making.” Hers is a constantly evolving practice, where artist residencies give her the space to experiment and think outside the box. She goes on to comment, “Every residency that I have done has had a very clear impact on my practice. My work with borosilicate and ceramics started during a three-month residency at the EKWC in the Netherlands in 2018, where I did a lot of testing to learn how these two materials could be combined.” At a second residency with EKWC, she’s been testing a glaze using borosilicate waste powder and mixing different colour clays with glass to build pieces with, thus introducing colour and form in the product at the same time.

Some of her recent exhibitions include the Alcova Project Space during Milan Salone del Mobile, with a collaborative project with glass artist Jochen Holz. She also participated in two group shows in London in 2022: No Ordinary Love by Martino Gamper and Friends at the Nicoletta Fiorucci Foundation and R for Repair at the Victoria and Albert Museum. In 2021 a solo exhibition Push-ups, was arranged with the support of the Swedish Art Associations at Ifö Center, travelling to Form Design Center, Malmö in 2022.

Apart from Aparacio who was nominated by designer Martino Gamper OBE, four other established names in the field including Sabine Marcelis, Jasper Morrison, Simone Brewster, and Daniel Charny MBE, nominated a young designer, all working towards ‘a new direction for design, either by supporting the green transition, through technical innovation or presenting compelling design ideas.’ The other nominees included ASTRONAUTS Danae Dasyra and Joe Bradford, Tabatha Pearce Chedier, Jacob Marks, and Micaella Pedros.

As Johanna Agerman Ross, Conran Foundation Chief Curator at the Design Museum comments on the relevance of the prize, “A unique aspect of the prize is that all nominations come from practising designers and the jury is made up of a majority of designers or people working in the design field, so in a way it is both for and by the design community, which reflects the Design Museum’s original vision. This year’s Ralph Saltzman Prize nominees are all very different, but one common factor is that they are pushing for material reuse and experimentation with existing manufacturing processes that challenge what design is and can be. They all offer a fascinating snapshot of contemporary design practice.”

On this year’s recipient, Saltzman said, “I am delighted that Attua has been selected as the winner of this year’s Prize; her work is imbued with an energy and creativity that I know my father would have loved. Her deft handling of a range of materials results in a visually arresting portfolio of work with sustainability and tactility at its heart.” Echoing this sentiment, Agerman Ross commented on Aparicio’s practice and her use of material and manufacturing techniques which she believes “push our understanding of form and its use to convey emotion and form attachments.” For instance, Aparicio’s work with waste glass is a testament to her investigation of sustainable design and a preoccupation with reinventing the aesthetics of sustainability.

On winning the honour, Aparicio commented, “I am extremely grateful to have received the Ralph Saltzman Prize…This prize is a great encouragement to my practice and the future of my work. I would like to especially thank Martino Gamper for nominating me for this prize and for all the support and encouragement that he has shown through the years. I would also like to thank all the team at the Design Museum for their great support and to Lisa Saltzman for making it all possible.” Aparicio’s work ranges from functional and sculptural pieces like planters and lights to decorative pieces like wall hangings. She is currently working on a private commission and in the future, she comments, “I want to keep exploring the combination of ceramic, glass, textiles, and wood to create functional sculptures.” Her work will be featured in a free display open to the public from February 1 - April 15, 2024, at the Design Museum.