From left: Roland Lamb, Nicholas Roope, Ben Evans, Erwan Bouroullec and Ronan Bouroullec |
||
Richard Rogers wins prize for lifetime achievement, London Design Festival director reveals at event at the Cheesegrater Brothers Erwan and Ronan Bouroullec have won the prestigious Panerai London Design Medal. The announcement was made by London Design Festival director Ben Evans during a press conference on the 39th floor of Richard Rogers’ new Leadenhall Building, the “Cheesegrater”, in the City of London this morning (16 September). Rogers himself was awarded the Coutts prize for Lifetime Achievement; Nicholas Roope, founder of website design agency Pike, won the Perrier-Jouet Design Entrepreneur Medal; and Roland Lamb, designer of the Seaboard musical instrument, won the Swarovski award for Emerging Talent. The winners will receive their medals at a dinner this evening at the same venue. The Bouroullecs, Roope and Lamb attended the press conference, where they discussed their work and the current state of the design sector. Paris-based design duo the Bouroullecs, who have designed furniture and products for brands such as Vitra, Alessi and Cappelinni, discussed their installation for the 2011 London Design Festival in the Raphael Gallery at the V&A, where Barber Osgerby’s Double Space is now on show. They also discussed the future of design. “Everyday objects can be over-rationalised by heavy industry,” said Erwan Bouroullec. “One of the big responsibilities as a product designers is to [tackle] the question of culture. The real issue in design is the culture you propose and the signs that objects and furniture you create are providing to people.” Roope is the founder of several businesses, including the low-energy lightbulb maker Plumen. “I’m known for quite disparate things, but I see them all as part of the same story: they are all responses to this environment – London at a period of intense change, a revolution,” he said. “I see design as an incredibly powerful tool to navigate through change, but this requires us to broaden our view and drop our prejudices about what is and isn’t design.” With a background in philosophy, Lamb fell into design on “a whim”. “Initially, I couldn’t quite relate to design culture,” he said. “So I started working on something I knew, music, because I’ve been a lifelong piano player.” His Seaboard instrument allows you to modulate the sound, timbre and pitch of notes on a keyboard like you would with a violin or guitar. The London Design Medal was established in 2007. Previous winners include Zaha Hadid, Paul Smith, Thomas Heatherwick and Ron Arad. |
Words Debika Ray
|
|
|