Five Questions with GOTYA juror Greta Saggus
The first round of judging is now complete for the 2026 Graduate of the Year Awards (GOTYA), with an outstanding field of emerging designers from across Australia progressing through the competition. As the jury continues its deliberations, we caught up with 2017 Graduate of the Year winner, industrial designer Greta Saggus, who returns this year as a juror. Nearly a decade after receiving the award, Greta reflects on how GOTYA helped launch her career, the value of curiosity, and what she's looking for in this year's graduates as they take their first steps into professional practice.
Photo by Joel Pratley.
SL: It’s been almost a decade since you were named the DIA Graduate of the Year in 2017. Looking back, what did that recognition mean to you at the time, and how did it influence the opportunities and confidence that followed?
GS: Looking back, the recognition itself was lovely, but I think what mattered more was it facilitated introductions to more designers and people within the industry. Connections that may not have happened otherwise. It gave me people to call when I needed a second opinion, and a surprising number of those early connections are still a part of my professional life now.
Since winning GOTYA, you've built an impressive career in industrial design. What have been some of the defining projects or moments that have shaped your practice, and how has your approach to design evolved along the way?
GS: Honestly, the projects that shaped me most weren't always the most visible ones. They were the ones where I got to sit with people who knew something I didn't, a materials engineer, a sound designer, an orthopaedic surgeon, someone who'd spent thirty years understanding something entirely new to me.
The opportunity to work across so many different industries and disciplines has been the real joy of my career to date. Each project has reset what I think "design" means. My approach has become less about arriving with a solution and more about arriving with good questions, and enough humility to let the answer surprise me.
Returning to GOTYA in 2026 as a juror is a wonderful full-circle moment. How does it feel to now be on the other side of the table, and what qualities are you hoping to see in this year's graduates?
GS: It's strange and exciting to be the one on the other side. What I hope to see in this year's graduates work isn't just a polished body of work. It's evidence of care. That they sat with a problem longer than was comfortable, listened to the people who'll use what they're designing, and were willing to be wrong a few times along the way.
For many graduates, the transition from university into professional practice can feel daunting. What advice would you offer emerging designers about building a meaningful and rewarding career in design?
GS: Be and stay curious. Learn from everything and everyone. No matter how small or unglamorous a project or task might seem in the early days, there's something in it worth knowing, often something you won't appreciate until later.
Don't feel the need to define yourself or what you do too early. Stay open-minded, keep exploring, and embrace every opportunity you can. The best work rarely happens on the project you expected it from.
Looking ahead, what continues to excite you most about industrial design, and what role do you hope Australian designers will play in shaping the future?
GS: What excites me now is the same thing that excited me at the start. It's the gap between how something could work and how it actually works in someone's hands, in their home, in their life. Closing that gap never stops being interesting to me, because the project is never the same, and the world keeps presenting us with new problems, needs, demands, technology and expectations to answer.
For Australian designers, I'd love to see more confidence in sharing the value of design as a way of thinking about how we use resources, treat people, and care for the planet, and in applying that thinking well beyond our own industry.