APS Designs is an interdisciplinary studio shaping timeless spaces and objects with clarity, elegance, and intent.

APS Designs is a New York–based interdisciplinary design studio founded by Antonio Pio Saracino, an Italian designer and artist with a professional license in architecture in Italy. Working across projects of different scales, the studio is recognized internationally for award-winning work, museum acquisitions, and public commissions. Guided by narrative, experience, and material intelligence, APS Designs creates enduring work shaped by clarity, meaning, and cultural context.

Approach

APS Designs is a design firm offering services across residential, commercial, cultural, and public art projects, from private interiors and bespoke environments to large-scale developments, branded spaces, and landmark initiatives.

  • The studio’s approach is structured and design-led, grounded in research, concept development, design refinement, and coordination toward implementation. Central to the practice is a close reading of the cultural context of each project, allowing place, history, and local identity to shape the design process. Working across scales allows APS Designs to bring the refinement and detail of object design to larger developments, and a broader spatial vision to smaller interventions and custom elements.

  • APS Designs guides each commission through a clear and highly curated process in which narrative, experience, and form are carefully aligned. This method allows the studio to establish a cohesive design language across design vision, interiors, custom elements, and broader spatial strategies, while maintaining clarity and consistency from early concept through design development.

  • The studio works in close collaboration with contractors, fabricators, consultants, and licensed professionals as required, depending on the location of the project and applicable legal and regulatory requirements. This collaborative model supports design integrity, technical precision, and a high level of coordination across every phase of project development.

A man in a dark suit with a white shirt, standing with arms crossed against a dark gray wall with white abstract line art.

Founder

Antonio Pio Saracino is an Italian designer and artist with a professional license in architecture in Italy, and founder of APS Designs and Atelier APS in New York. With over twenty years of experience, he has built an award-winning international design practice recognized through major museum collections, public commissions, and a multidisciplinary body of work shaped by a contemporary global outlook.

  • Antonio Pio Saracino is an Italian designer and artist with a professional license in architecture in Italy, a member of the Association of Professional Architects in Rome, and founder of APS Designs and Atelier APS in New York. He earned his Master’s degree in Architecture, magna cum laude, from Sapienza University of Rome and has served as an Assistant Professor of Architectural Design. With over twenty-five years of experience across the built environment, industrial design, and public art, his practice is shaped by a contemporary global outlook. His work has received international awards and recognition, including the Europalia Art Competition in Brussels and American Architecture Awards, and is held in the permanent collections of major institutions such as the Centre Pompidou, the Brooklyn Museum, the Museum of Arts and Design, LACMA, and MAAS Sydney. His public artworks include permanent installations such as The Guardians in Bryant Park, New York, LIFE at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, and Arco in Puglia, Italy. He also serves as creative director for distinctive brands, branded developments, and select landmark initiatives, reflecting a practice that moves fluidly between cultural vision, design innovation, and enduring public presence.

Recognition

Antonio Pio Saracino’s work has received international recognition through museum acquisitions, public commissions, awards, exhibitions, lectures, and press. These distinctions reflect a practice defined by design excellence, public presence, and lasting cultural relevance.

  • Saracino’s work is held in the permanent collections of major institutions including the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Brooklyn Museum, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, LACMA in Los Angeles, and the Powerhouse Museum–MAAS in Sydney. His projects have been presented internationally through galleries, art fairs, and museum exhibitions. He has designed the Formula One Trophy for multiple editions and has exhibited work alongside Michelangelo’s David at the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence.

  • Saracino won the 2007 Europalia Art Competition in Brussels, representing Italy. His work was selected as a symbol of the 50th anniversary of the European Union and exhibited alongside contributions from all 27 Member States, in the presence of leading European figures. He has received two American Architecture Awards from the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design, two Best of Year Awards from Interior Design magazine, and was named among ARTnews’ “25 Most Interesting Trendsetters.” He also won the public competition for The New Arc for Newark, a landmark proposal for Newark, New Jersey, and was recognized among the Top Ten Italian Architects by New Italian Blood.

  • Saracino’s work has been exhibited internationally through galleries, museums, art fairs, and cultural institutions. Highlights include the Italian Pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale, Expo 2015 in Milan within the historic gardens of the University of Milan, and the Islamic Arts Festival in Sharjah. His work has also been shown at institutions including the Galleria dell’Accademia in Florence, the Brooklyn Museum in New York, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, the MUBE Museum in Sao Paolo, and the MAAS Museum in Sydney. Together, these presentations reflect the international scope of a practice that moves fluidly between design, art, and public presence.

  • His work has been featured in leading international publications including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Interior Design, Architectural Digest, Vanity Fair, and Vogue, among others. This editorial presence reflects the broad reach of the studio’s work across design, interiors, public art, and culture.

  • Saracino has been invited to lecture at select cultural and academic institutions and international forums, presenting his work and design research internationally. These invitations have included the Creative Economy Forum at Teatro Petruzzelli in Bari, the SCCI Foundation in Sydney, the Italian Cultural Institute in Sydney, New York, and Córdoba, the China Institute in New York, and the Islamic Arts Festival in Sharjah—reflecting the broader cultural relevance of his practice and its engagement with public art, design, heritage, and contemporary life.

A large auditorium filled with a seated audience watching a panel discussion on stage, with numerous participants seated in chairs, two large screens above displaying close ups of speakers, and professional camera crews capturing the event.

Team

APS Designs undertakes local and international projects through highly qualified multidisciplinary teams tailored to the scale, complexity, and ambition of each commission. This collaborative structure supports creative excellence, technical precision, and a distinctly global perspective. Where required by law, APS Designs collaborates with licensed professionals for documentation, permitting, and regulatory compliance.

  • The studio works in close collaboration with architects, engineers, fabricators, artisans, specialist consultants, and licensed professionals where required, building strong partnerships that support both creative excellence and technical precision. This collaborative model allows APS Designs to guide projects with clarity and consistency from concept through execution, ensuring rigorous coordination, accountability, and a high level of quality across every phase of development.

  • With active work and partnerships across the United States, South America, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, and Europe, APS Designs brings a distinctly global perspective to each engagement. The studio assembles teams according to the specific character, location, and ambition of each project, drawing on international experience while remaining responsive to local context.

  • Where required by law, architectural services are provided solely by the Architect of Record or by locally licensed professionals. APS Designs operates as an interdisciplinary design studio and works in collaboration with licensed consultants as required for documentation, permitting, and regulatory compliance.

Ventures

Ventures extends the studio’s work into select collaborations in which APS Designs contributes as creative director, co-founding partner, or visionary lead. These initiatives move beyond conventional design services, shaping identity, experience, and long-term strategic direction across distinctive developments, brands, and landmark proposals.

  • APS Designs provides creative direction for select ventures, defining the broader vision, design language, and experiential framework that guide a project from its earliest stages. This role often includes shaping identity, stylistic direction, narrative coherence, and the overall character of the venture across built environment, interiors, branding, and public presence.

  • The studio collaborates with development groups, private partners, and brand-led initiatives in which design plays a strategic role in positioning, value creation, and market distinction. These partnerships may involve branded environments, hospitality concepts, residential ventures, or broader development visions shaped through design leadership and cultural clarity.

  • APS Designs also engages in civic, cultural, and landmark-oriented ventures in which design contributes to public identity, collective experience, and long-term symbolic presence. These initiatives may include cultural destinations, public-sector collaborations, and landmark proposals requiring a strong conceptual vision, clear identity, narrative coherence, and broader civic resonance.

Work With Us

APS Designs welcomes collaborations with private clients, developers, institutions, collectors, and strategic partners on new projects. To discuss a commission, partnership, or collaboration, we invite you to get in touch.

Contact Us

  • Photo 1: Frame from the film The Guardians, by Carter Peobody.
    Photo 2: Project. © APS Designs Inc.
    Photo 3: Portrait of Antonio Pio Saracino. © APS Designs Inc.
    Photo 4: Sharjah Art Museum — INFINITUM by Antonio Pio Saracino, with His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Ruler of Sharjah. Courtesy of Shurooq
    Photo 5: Interni Magazine — Expo 2015 Conference, University of Milan Photo 6: Antonio Pio Saracino presenting projects at the SCCI Foundation, Sydney, Australia. Courtesy of the SCCI Foundation.
    Photo 7: Arco under construction. Courtesy of the City of San Marco in Lamis; Hero under construction. Courtesy of Precision Stone; New York interior project in progress. Courtesy of APS Designs + Blatz Architect; The Guardians installation, New York. Courtesy of Three Bryant Park and Team Milgo Bufkin; residential building in progress, Lanciano, Italy. Courtesy of APS Designs + Diamante Construction; Black Hole installation, Expo Milano, University of Milan. Courtesy of APS Designs, Zordan Team, and Marzorati Ronchetti.

    Images used with permission of the credited organizations and individuals where applicable.