From a collection of afrofuturist timber stools to a series of vessels sculpted from recycled waste glass, this year’s Ralph Saltzman Prize shortlist spans a broad range of mediums, approaches and disciplines, reflecting the diversity of the current design scene. The Design Museum’s annual prize was launched in 2022 by Lisa Saltzman in memory of her father, intending to celebrate and nurture upcoming international design talent. It has since become one of the hottest accolades for emerging designers, with past winners including Attua Aparicio, Marco Campardo and Mac Collins.
‘I created the Ralph Saltzman Prize four years ago to honour my father, Ralph Saltzman, who was an innovator and a pioneer,’ Saltzman says. ‘These emerging designers are the design leaders of the future; much like my father when he founded Designtex, a company that went on to gain numerous awards for its innovation and sustainable ideas.’
The five names vying for the crown have been chosen from a panel of industry-leading experts including industrial designer Konstantin Grcic, material designer Seetal Solanki, New York-based product designer Stephen Burks, the former Editor-in-Chief of ELLE Decoration Michelle Ogundehin and Lisa Saltzman. The winner, who will be announced in mid June, will receive a £10,000 bursary to support their work, which will go on show at the Design Museum in west London at an exhibition running from 24 June.
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Sarah Brunnhuber, a graduate of the prestigious Design Academy Eindhoven, has been selected for her zero-waste production brand Stem, which aims to make the fashion and textile industry less wasteful. The Copenhagen-based textile designer weaves garments using a cutting and sewing system that eliminates garment production waste. Also interested in streamlining unsustainable production processes is fellow nominee Samy Rio, who creates locally made wooden furniture.
British glassblower Lulu Harrison’s submission, ‘Thames Glass,’ has a similar focus on closing the production loop. Having spent her childhood near the River Thames in Oxfordshire, Harrison became interested in working with materials sourced from the area, including river sands, wood ashes and waste quagga mussel shells. This research led her to create a range of jade hued vessels using local, abundant and waste materials which caught the eyes of the judging panel.
Meanwhile, the work of the penultimate finalist, Ella Bulley, is inspired by a ritual performed at marriage ceremonies by Ewe clans. The British-born Ghanaian designer’s totemic stools, ‘Transitions’, are produced in collaboration with Wassaman Ltd, a timber factory based in Accra that specialises in indigenous sustainable practices.
Finally, Johanna Seelemann the fifth designer shortlisted for the prize, is hoping to win the award with ‘Oase’, a concept designed to help trees in urban environments stay healthy. The German designer (who has worked for Formafantasma) has developed a range of sculptural unglazed terracotta vessels that can be filled with water and buried underground, near trees, drawing on an ancient low-tech method used for irrigation. designmuseum.org
