London Design Medals 2021
Image: Designed by Studioilse, Chalet, Switzerland, 2015. © Felix Odell
DESIGN
Ilse Crawford
London Design Medal
The 2021 London Design Medal has been awarded to Ilse Crawford. The honour is reserved for an individual "who has distinguished themselves within the industry and demonstrated consistent design excellence". Ilse Crawford is the founder of design practice Studioilse, she also works as a teacher and creative director. "I couldn't be more proud to win this award," she said. "London is in my DNA. I was born in Powis Square, went to school at Avondale, W11, and went to uni here too. In 2003, the same date that the London Design Festival began, I started Studioilse here in London."
Image: Iklwa chair from Iklwa Collection designed by Mac Collins in collaboration with
furniture maker’s Benchmark. © Mac Collins
DESIGN
Mac Collins
Emerging Design Medal
Mac Collins has won the Emerging Design Medal, which recognises an impact made on the design scene within five or so years of graduation. The British designer, maker and artist from Nottingham graduated with a degree in Three-Dimensional Design from Northumbria University, Newcastle in the summer of 2018. In the years since graduating, Collins has been committed to designing and making narrative-rich and impactful furniture and objects. Alongside a material driven approach, Collins brings personal and cultural narratives into his work, and deems his practice as a means of exploring his own identity and position within the African Diaspora.
About the London Design Medals
Baloise Art Prize 2021
Image: Installation view, Cameron Clayborn, Art Basel Statements booth with Simone Subal Gallery, 2021. © Studio Shapiro | Installation view, Hana Miletić, Art Basel, 2021.
ART
Cameron Clayborn and Hana Miletić
Baloise Art Prize
Cameron Clayborn is an American sculptor. At Art Basel, works from his series "Homegrown," 2021, took the form of ceiling-hung, shield-like structures. Created from modest materials including paper, popcorn ceiling paint, and insulation made from shredded blue jeans, the works examine the relationship between vulnerability and power, appearing at once sturdy and fragile. On the walls, various works titled roompiercer (with tool), all 2021, fluid, organic forms, each pierced with a sharp needle, conjured a similar dissonance.
Hana Miletić is a Zagreb-born artist who lives and works in Brussels and Zagreb. Her project at Art Basel featured recent works from her series "Materials", 2015, which focuses on everyday repairs in public spaces, such as those to cars and buildings, reflecting on economic hardship and personal resilience. The artist models her woven textiles on a 1970s-era loom after her photographs that document repairs in public space.
Africa Fashion Up Prize 2021
Image: Emmy Kasbit, SS 2019 Collection. © Adebayo
FASHION
Emmanuel Okoro
Africa Fashion Up Prize
Nigerian designer Emmanuel Okoro has won the top prize at the inaugural edition of Africa Fashion Up, a showcase for African designers, with his Emmy Kasbit men’s and women’s collection made using traditional West African weaving techniques. The event was organized by the Share Africa platform in partnership with Balenciaga. In addition to attending masterclasses with members of Balenciaga’s executive committee, the finalists met buyers from Galeries Lafayette and visited the workshop of Imane Ayissi, the first sub-Saharan designer to show on the official couture calendar in Paris and patron of the event.
About the Africa Fashion Up Prize
Frieze Artist Award
Image: Sung Tieu, Moving Target Shadow Detection, 2021.
3D simulation video and sound (work in progress video still)
ART
Sung Tieu
Frieze Artist Award
Sung Tieu is a Vietnam-born Berlin-based artist. Her work continues her ongoing research into the psychological dimension of warfare, acoustic weaponry and its relationship to Cold War ideologies. Titled Moving Target Shadow Detection, 2021, Tieu’s film presents a detailed reconstruction of the interior of the Hotel Nacional de Cuba in Havana, the site of the first-known instance of sonic warfare, and the incident to which the mysterious set of medical disorders collectively termed "Havana Syndrome," owes its name. Sung Tieu's film will premiere during Frieze Week London in October 2021.
Jameel Prize 2021
Image: Ajlan Gharem, Paradise Has Many Gates, 2015. © Ajlan Gharem
DESIGN
Ajlan Gharem
Jameel Prize
The Jameel Prize is an award for contemporary art and design inspired by Islamic tradition. For this sixth edition the thematic focus was specifically contemporary design. Ajlan Gharem is an artist and mathematics teacher based in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia). His work explores the changing nature of society in Saudi Arabia. Gharem’s architectural installation Paradise Has Many Gates is true to the form and design of a traditional mosque, but is made of the cage-like chicken wire used for border walls and prison fences. Although the wire feels uninviting, even frightening, it also renders the mosque transparent and open – even welcoming.
