Rigg Design Prize 2025: Next in Design

The Rigg Design Prize is Australia’s most prestigious accolade for contemporary design. Since its inception in 1994, this triennial prize exhibition has featured over one hundred designers across a range of disciplines, celebrating their creative achievements and providing a valuable platform for visibility, recognition and impact. For its landmark tenth edition in 2025, the prize will be awarded to an early-career Australian design practice, drawing attention to the new generation of talent. Bringing together emerging designers, the exhibition spans ceramics, glass, furniture, woodwork, metalwork, textiles, lighting and contemporary jewellery, presenting ambitious works that reflect bold approaches to materiality, form and function.

Early-career practitioners play a crucial role in shaping Australia’s design ecosystem and culture. They bring bold ideas and fresh perspectives that challenge conventions and expand the possibilities of design and making. The Rigg Design Prize 2025 – Next in Design – recognises the energy, ingenuity and vision of emerging designers who are making important contributions to their fields.

In 2025, emerging Kuninjku artist Simone Namunjdja was selected for her three lorrkon artworks. Simone’s inclusion in the Prize marks a profound moment of recognition for both her personal creative journey and the broader Maningrida arts community. Two of the three lorrkons were made specifically for the Prize and are the largest works Simone has produced to date.

_{Image: Installation view of Simone Namunjdja’s Wak wak (Crow), 2024, Wak wak (Crow), 2025 and Bekka (File snake), 2025, on display as part of Rigg Design Prize 2025, 19 September 2025 to 1 February 2026 at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia. Photo: Madeleine Burke}