The 2021 National Design Awards are announced

The Ministry of Science and Innovation has announced the 2021 National Innovation and Design Awards: Jaime Hayón, the Valencia-based designer originally from Madrid, has achieved the highest award in the professional category, whilst Expormim, the Valencian outdoor furniture firm, has received the 2021 National Design Award in the “company” category. The National Design Award for young designers has been awarded to Danny Saltaren, whilst the honourable mention in the professional category this year has gone to Ramón Úbeda.

In the Innovation category, the 2021 National Innovation Awards have been given to Eduardo Anitua, Cosentino and CerTest Biotec.

The purpose of these awards is to distinguish people and companies that have made innovation an indispensable element in the development of their professional strategy and business growth. Recognition is also given to professionals and companies that have contributed significantly to increasing the prestige of Spanish design and to organisations that, by incorporating it in their business strategy, have shown that design is an important lever for innovation and competitiveness.

The designer Jaime Hayón, National Design Award 2021 in the “Professional” category

Born in Madrid but based in Valencia, Jaime Hayón is the leading light of Spanish design in the world. He combines his work for large firms with personal artistic projects. As the jury says, “As an undeniable reference of Spanish design at international level and one of its best ambassadors in very diverse fields, including lighting, furniture, habitats and design for public spaces, based on a virtuous communion between design, sculpture, craftsmanship and interior design. A paradigmatic example of artist-designer, with an undisputed track record of more than twenty years leading projects with an international impact, Hayón has left his unmistakable hallmark of creativity, quality, artistic cleverness and originality on outstanding collaborations with leading companies.”

Expormim, National Design Award 2021 in the “Company” category.

The mastery of the design and craftsmanship with which they work wood and rattan has made this firm from Moixent an international reference in outdoor furniture. In the words of the jury: “For being able to combine in an extraordinary manner the values of traditional craftsmanship with avant-garde industrial techniques in the design of quality furniture, from a perspective of environmental sustainability in continuous contact with innovation and the social dimension of design. The Valencian company, after more than six decades of existence, has been able to recover the cultural values contained in the artisanal production of natural materials such as cane and rattan to reinvigorate the creative process, based on a strategy founded on design culture and project culture.”

Danny Saltaren, National Design Award “Young Designer”

The designer and founder of Mendesaltaren, a design studio specialising in the creation of digital products and services, works for brands such as Inditex, Repsol, Movistar and Bankia, among many others. As the jury pointed out: “For being one of the major national exponents in the field of digital design and innovative entrepreneurship, in an absolutely revealing example of the importance of the role that must be played by strategic design in the digital transformation of the Spanish economy. Danny Saltaren, despite his youth, has shown abundant leadership capacity in outstanding business initiatives, including the creation of the start-ups Fever, Mendesaltaren and Minimun.rum, as well as various collaborations with large companies in relevant sectors with which he has attained very significant achievements in the scope of the digital transition.”

Special Mention in Design 2021 in the “Professional” category: Ramón Úbeda Castro

The journalist, designer, author, curator and art director Ramón Úbeda has obtained an Honourable Mention at the 2021 National Design Awards. A career of more than 30 years dedicated to the dissemination and teaching of design from different angles, especially in the literary and journalistic fields. “For representing in an exceptional manner the importance and significance of research, disclosure, strategic management, communication and the generation of quality contents as fundamental pillars of the design ecosystem. As a journalist, graphic designer, product designer, artistic director for different companies and curator of exhibitions of international relevance, throughout a professional career of more than thirty-five years, Úbeda is undoubtedly one of the most outstanding contributors to the success of Spanish design in the world, to which it is appropriate to add the importance of his figure in the sphere of eco-design and climatically neutral materials,” according to the jury.