The London Design Festival has announced four winners for London Design Medals 2019, recognizing the contribution made by leading design figures and emerging talents to London and the industry, with four Medals awarded each year. 

This year, the 2019 London Design Medal, supported by British Airways London City, has been awarded to designer Tom Dixon. The London Design Medal is awarded to an individual who has distinguished themselves within the industry and demonstrated consistent design excellence.

British fashion designer and businesswoman Dame Vivienne Westwood has been awarded the 2019 Lifetime Achievement Medal, while  Daniel Charny receiving the 2019 Design Innovation Medal and Ross Atkin receiving the 2019 Emerging Design Medal. 

A panel of established designers, industry commentators and previous winners meet to debate the possible recipients of the four Medals. 

The jury consists of Ozwald Boateng, Ian Callum, Sheridan Coakley, Njusja de Gier, Es Devlin, Sarah Douglas, Ben Evans, Tristram Hunt, Domenic Lippa, Jay Osgerby, Raoul Shah, Joff Sharpe, Justine Simons, Sir John Sorrell, Paul Thompson and Jane Withers.

Image courtesy of Tom Dixon

Tom Dixon has been awarded the 2019 London Design Medal which is supported by British Airways London City. The award is the highest accolade bestowed upon an individual who has distinguished themselves within the industry and demonstrated consistent design excellence.

Tom Dixon, rose to prominence in the mid 1980s as a self-taught British designer. He set up the creative think-tank Space, which acted as a shop front for himself and other young designers. By the late 1980s, he was working for Cappellini, for which he designed the iconic S chair.

In the late 1990s, Dixon became Creative Director at Habitat and was responsible for rejuvenating the brand while maintaining Terence Conran’s vision of enriching everyday life through simple, modern design.

Image courtesy of Getty Images

Dame Vivienne Westwood has been awarded the 2019 Lifetime Achievement Medal, supported by Fortnum & Mason. The award honours a significant and fundamental contribution to the design industry over the course of a career.

Vivienne Westwood was born in 1941 and moved to London 17 years later. She began designing in 1971 along with her then partner, Malcolm McLaren. In 1984, she launched her own fashion line and in 2004 the V&A hosted a Vivienne Westwood retrospective to celebrate her 34 years in fashion – the largest exhibition ever devoted to a living British fashion designer.

Westwood has always used her collections and catwalk shows as a platform for activism. She has personally spent many years speaking out about the effects of climate change and over‑consumption – and inaugurated the ‘Climate Revolution’ at the 2012 London Paralympics closing ceremony.

Image courtesy of Design Indaba

The 2019 Design Innovation Medal, supported by SAP, has been awarded to Daniel Charny. The Design Innovation Medal celebrates entrepreneurship in all its forms, both locally and internationally. It honours an individual for whom design lies at the core of their development and success.

Daniel Charny is a creative director, curator and educator with an inquiring mind and an entrepreneurial streak. He is co-founder of the creative consultancy From Now On, where clients include Dartington Hall, the Design Museum, Google, Heatherwick Studio, Nesta and U+I. His most recent initiative is the creative education think-and-do-tank FixEd.

Charny is best known as curator of the influential exhibition Power of Making at the V&A, which drove him to found the award-winning learning programme Fixperts, now taught in universities and schools worldwide. Other projects include the Aram Gallery, the British Council’s Maker Library Network and the Central Research Laboratory accelerator.

Image courtesy of machinesroom.co.uk

The 2019 Emerging Design Medal has been awarded to Ross Atkin. The Emerging Design Medal, supported by Storey, recognises an individual who has made an impact on the design scene within five or so years of graduation.

Ross Atkin is a designer and engineer based in east London. His work focuses on two areas: helping disabled people to live more independently, and introducing design and engineering to children. He maintains his own design and development practice, creating assistive technology and accessibility-focused products that span the digital-physical divide.

Atkin’s design practice is heavily informed by observational research. He regularly conducts participatory shadowing of disabled people as they make journeys around cities.

This year, the London Design Medals will be presented on Monday 16 September 2019 at the British Land Celebration of Design. For the fifth consecutive year, British Land is Headline Partner to the awards ceremony, which takes place at The House of Commons, Westminster.

The 2019 London Design Festival will be held between September 14-22, 2019 with a programme of citywide activity in the districts and destinations, showcasing local and international design talent. 

WAC has already picked up 8 design installations that shouldn't be missed at the Festival. The design installations include Kengo Kuma, Sam Jacob, Paul Cocksedge, Camille Walala and more.

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