The London Design Festival has announced four winners for the 2020 London Design Medals, recognizing the contribution made by leading design figures and emerging talents to London and the industry, with four Medals awarded each year: The London Design Medal, Lifetime Achievement Medal, Emerging Design Medal, and Design Innovation Medal.

Paola Antonelli, author and Senior Curator at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), has been awarded the 2020 London Design Medal, the highest accolade bestowed upon an individual who has distinguished themselves within the industry and demonstrated consistent design excellence, while British graphic designer, photographer and writer Ken Garland has been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Medal, honours a significant and fundamental contribution to the design industry over the course of a career.

The 2020 Design Innovation Medal has been awarded to Dame Ellen MacArthur, who is the founder of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, accelerating the transition to a circular economy, while London-based multidisciplinary artist Yinka Ilori has been awarded the Emerging Design Medal which recognises an impact made on the design scene within five or so years of graduation.

As the LDF highlights, this year, the awards ceremony will take place virtually, on the evening of Monday 14 September, 2020 supported by Headline Partner SAP. 

Supporting Partner Fortnum & Mason, in collaboration with Pentagram, have created specially designed hampers for guests on the evening, along with Spirit Partner No.3 Gin. The ceremony will be available to watch across the London Design Festival’s channels from 18:30 GMT.

Paola Antonelli won the 2020 London Design Medal. Image courtesy of LDF

LDF's London Design Medal is the highest accolade bestowed upon an individual who has distinguished themselves within the industry and demonstrated consistent design excellence.

This year’s winner has been named as Paola Antonelli, who is Senior Curator at The Museum of Modern Art in the Department of Architecture & Design, as well as MoMA’s founding Director of Research & Development. 

Antonelli’s goal at The Museum of Modern Art is to promote design’s public understanding until its positive influence on the world is universally acknowledged. Her work investigates design’s impact on everyday experience and possible futures, combining design, architecture, art, science, and technology.

"I realize that the right thing to say would be that I am humbled by this honour, but I’m not! I’m unabashedly proud to have received the London Design Medal and shamelessly boastful. Of all the capitals of design, London is the one that best understands our field‘s breadth, versatility, diversity, and its power to influence society in all aspects of life, everywhere, and at all levels of impact," said Paola Antonelli. 

"Design is important, and it is an important moment for design. I thank the jury for recognizing me, as being an effective advocate for design and letting the world understand and embrace it, is my life’s work."

Ken Garland won the Lifetime Achievement Medal. Image courtesy of LDF

British graphic designer, photographer, writer and notably, educator Ken Garland has been awarded the Lifetime Achievement Medal, the award honours a significant and fundamental contribution to the design industry over the course of a career.

He has made a significant contribution to the development of graphic design since the mid-twentieth century and formed the prolific design studio Ken Garland & Associates in 1962 (until 2009) in Camden, London, where he continues to live and work. 

Ken Garland & Associates included a small rotating group of designers over its 47-year period including Robert Chapman, Ray Carpenter, Trilokesh Mukherjee, Gill Scott, Patrick Gould, John O’Neil, Norman Moore, Frank Hart, Daria Gan, Colin Bailey, Peter Cole, Ian Moore, Paul Cleal, Richard Marston and Anna Carson. They worked with clients such as Galt Toys, Dancer & Hearne, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, Barbour Index and Keniston Housing Association. 

"I am delighted to be chosen as the recipient of one of the London Design Medals. At my age (91) I had thought I was a forgotten person – but no, someone still remembers me! As to achievement: all my associates and I did for 50-odd years was to have a lot of fun at other people’s expense. We were so lucky!," said Ken Garland.

Ellen MacArthur won the 2020 Design Innovation Medal. Image courtesy of LDF

Ellen MacArthur,  the founder of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, has been awarded the 2020 Design Innovation Medal, the award 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.

Dame Ellen MacArthur made yachting history in 2005, when she became the fastest solo sailor to circumnavigate the globe. Having become acutely aware of the finite nature of the resources on which our linear economy relies, she retired from professional sailing to launch the Ellen MacArthur Foundation in 2010.

"I am honoured to have been awarded this year’s Design Innovation Medal. When we started working to accelerate the transition to a circular economy ten years ago, we knew that a new approach to design would be critical: it’s about deciding from the outset to design in a way whereby products, components, and materials stay in the system," said Ellen MacArthur.  

"Since then thousands of innovators from startups, academia, government and business have seized the opportunity to think about how they can deliver benefits beyond one product, looking at how that product can fit in a much broader, regenerative system." 

"2020 has been a year of unprecedented disruption, but seeing people in the creative sector using their skills and talent to build a more circular economy gives me hope that we can build back better," she added.

London-based multidisciplinary artist of a British-Nigerian heritage Yinka Ilori has been awarded the 2020 Emerging Design Medal, the award recognises an impact made on the design scene within five or so years of graduation.

Ilori specialises in storytelling by fusing his British and Nigerian heritage to tell new stories in contemporary design. Humorous, provocative and fun, every project that he creates tells
a story. Bringing Nigerian verbal traditional into playful conversation with contemporary design, Yinka Ilori’s work touches on various global themes that resonate with different audiences all over the world.

He began his practice in 2011 up-cycling vintage furniture, inspired by the traditional Nigerian parables and West African fabrics that surrounded him as a child. Yinka Ilori Studio was established in 2017 following a successful pitch to transform the Thessaly Road Bridge. 

"I am truly humbled and honoured to have won
this award. Design has always been a huge part of my life and surroundings, so being able to share it with the world is something very special," said Yinka Ilori. 

"It feels good to know that my work has been recognised by London Design Festival in a time where, in my opinion, design is more important than ever. I just hope my work inspires the next generation of young designers with a similar background to me.
I really am grateful and excited for the future."

Previous London Design Medal winners include, David Adjaye, Thomas Heatherwick, Tom Dixon and Es Devlin. 

Top image: Paola Antonelli won the 2020 London Design Medal. Image courtesy of LDF

> via London Design Festival