Panerai London Design Medal

Other designers to receive awards this year included Richard Rogers, renowned architect, who was awarded the Coutts Lifetime Achievement Medal, Nicolas Roope, founder of Poke, the website design agency, was awarded the Perrier-Jouet Design Entrepreneur Medal and Roland Lamb, designer of the award-winning Seaboard – a new advance in music production – was awarded the Swarovski Emerging Talent Medal.

The winners of all four awards were presented with their medals at The London Design Medal Dinner held at The Leadenhall Building (designed by Rogers, Stirk, Harbour + Partners) on the evening of 16 September 2014.

This medal is the highest accolade bestowed upon an individual or in this case, individuals, who have distinguished themselves within the industry and demonstrated consistent design excellence over a number of years.

Ronan (born 1971) and Erwan Bouroullec (born 1976) are brothers and designers based in Paris. They began working together fifteen years ago having completed their studies at the École supérieure des Arts décoratifs in Paris and École nationale supérieure des Arts in Cergy.

In 1997, they were spotted by Cappellini, giving them their first industrial design projects. They began working with the Galerie kreo in 2000 and had their first solo show there in 2001. Issey Miyake then hired them to design the boutique to house his new collection ‘A-Poc’. They worked on a new office system called ‘Joyn’ for Vitra and have also worked with Alessi, Axor Hansgrohe, Cappellini, Established & Sons, Flos, Glas Italia, Hay, Kvadrat, Kartell, Ligne Roset, Magis, Mattiazzi, Mutina and Nani Marquina.

From designing spaces to furniture to accessories, taking on architectural projects to designing textile wall systems or comprehensive collections, the designers maintain experimental activity with Gallery Kreo.

Examples of their designs have been included in the permanent collection at The Musée National d’Art Moderne – Centre Pompidou and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Design Museum in London, and the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam.

The Bouroullecs were responsible for one of the London Design Festival’s most successful landmark projects, Textile Field, a remarkable platform made from a variety of panels using Kvadrat material, which was installed in the Raphael Gallery at the V&A in 2011.

ABOUT THE LONDON DESIGN MEDAL

A panel of distinguished experts was tasked with choosing this year’s winner, each member nominating a possible recipient before collectively debating a winner. The panel of 15 judges this year included: Alexander Payne (Worldwide Director, Design at Phillips), Martin Roth (Director of V&A), Paul Thompson (Rector, Royal College of Art) and Sheridan Coakley (Founder, SCP)

Previous winners of the London Design Medal have included: Peter Savile, El Ultimo Grito, Marc Newson, Sir Paul Smith, Dame Zaha Hadid, Thomas Heatherwick and Ron Arad. In 2012 the London Design Festival presented the first Lifetime Achievement Award to Sir Terence Conran who said it had inspired him to “keep working and not give in to retirement, just yet”. Previous winners of the Lifetime Achievement Award include Vida Sassoon and Dieter Rams.

Ben Evans, Director of the London Design Festival said, “While there is no shortage of design awards, we took the Nobel Prize route – there’s no shortlist, just a winner, so there are no losers either. The Design Medal Dinner and Awards event brings together the leading figures of design in London. It is an important moment in the year when talents – new and established – are formally recognised and celebrated for their significant contributions to design. The Medal also highlights the pioneering spirit that is so evident in London.”

Officine Panerai said, “Partnering with a pivotal design event like the London Design Festival gives Panerai the opportunity to celebrate and honour one of our core principles – exclusive design. The art of design, whether used to create watches or assemble infrastructure, exemplifies innovation, intricate detailing and fine craftsmanship, epitomising what Panerai is all about. It is an honour to be able to put our name to an award that recognizes consistent and admirable contribution to, as well as excellence within, this industry.”

The awards dinner was held at the Leadenhall Building on 16 September and the results were made available to media, earlier that day.

The Medal itself is designed by jewellery designer Hannah Martin and represents the once ubiquitous London bird, the Cockney Sparrow in flight.

The Leadenhall Building is a unique 610,000 sq. ft. building located in the centre of the City of London. Its distinctive design provides the ultimate in flexible accommodation, and the scale of the seven storey high landscaped galleria at ground level is unprecedented in London. Designed by leading architects, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, the building is recognised as a great piece of contextual architecture and a genuine new icon for London.

The Leadenhall Building is a joint venture by British Land, one of Europe’s largest Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), and Oxford Properties, the global investor, developer and manager of real estate.

OFFICINE PANERAI’S WATCHES ARE A NATURAL BLEND OF ITALIAN DESIGN, EXPERT SWISS TECHNOLOGY AND PASSION FOR THE SEA.

Founded in Florence in 1860 as a workshop, shop and school of watch-making, for many decades Officine Panerai supplied the Italian Navy in general, and its specialist diving corps in particular, with precision instruments. The designs developed by Panerai in that time, including the Luminor and Radiomir, were covered by the Military Secrets Act for many years and were launched on the international market only after the brand was acquired by the Richemont Group in 1997. Today Officine Panerai develops and crafts its movements and watches at its Neuchâtel manufacture. Technical excellence and exclusive design are the core principals of Officine Panerai watches due to seamless melding of Italian design flair and history with Swiss horological expertise.

Panerai watches are sold across the world through an exclusive network of distributors and Panerai boutiques.