Panerai London Design Festival medals – David Adjaye got the gold

Early this morning, architecture get to know that UK architect David Adjaye has won this year’s London Design Medal, while industrial designer Kenneth Grange has been given Johnson Lifetime Achievement award in recognition of his career, while Bethan Laura Wood picked up Swarovski Emerging Talent Medal. London Design Festival on its best!

A total of four medal winners were announced this morning at London’s Broadgate as part of the British Land Celebration of Design – one of the headline events of the London Design Festival 2016.

Adjaye was awarded the biggest of the four prizes, the Panerai London Design Medal. The Tanzanian-born British architect was described by judges “an inspiration for the younger generation”. His projects include the Dirty House in London’s Hackney and the Sugar Hill housing block in New York, as well as the new Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture.

Adjaye becomes the 10th winner of the prize, which has been awarded annually since 2007 to an individual or group that has demonstrated “an outstanding contribution to London and design”. He follows past winners footsteps designers including Peter Saville, Zaha Hadid, Paul Smith and Thomas Heatherwick.

After graduating, Wood set out on a path that has seen her undertake residencies with London’s Design Museum and W Hotel Mexico City, as well as collaborating with artisanal producers on predominantly limited series or batch-manufactured objects that utilise materials as diverse as wood laminate, hand-blown glass and appliqué upholstery.

Celebrating entrepreneurship, the Airbnb Design Innovation Medal champions individuals whose buisiness development and success lies in outstanding design. Studio Roosegaarde, the social design lab of Dutch artist Daan Roosegaarde, explores the interaction between people, technology and space, most notably with his Smog Free Project, which saw him create the world’s largest smog vacuum cleaner and thus this notable prize.