It will come as no surprise that the annual Design Guild Mark awards ceremony is one of the highlights in our calendar.
After the pressure of the judging day, the ceremony is the opportunity for the designers to drink in the praise and adulation for their work, which has been recognised as a definitive example of excellent British design by our independent judges.
This year’s ceremony took place on Tuesday 24 May, during Clerkenwell Design Week, and was kindly hosted at Senator/Allermuir’s showroom.
Twenty-three pieces across our three categories – Furniture, Lighting Design and 2D Design – were honoured at the ceremony. Last month we heard from a selection of the winners from the Furniture category. This month it’s the turn of the Lighting Design and 2D Design winners.
“It’s quite amazing as a tiny business to win this award two years running. We never set out to follow a trend or design for other people and often we are quite wilfully different! Everything we do is completely authentic and made locally. So it’s lovely to be recognised, and something we never expected. I hope this means we can increase our support for our artists and local mills in future.”
— Charlotte Raffo
One of the designers of All Tomorrow’s Futures for The Monkey Puzzle Tree
“We are delighted to be awarded the prestigious Design Guild Mark Award in recognition of British manufacturing, design and innovation for ‘Swell’ - our first inhouse large scale product. This award recognises the innovation and creativity we invested to bring Swell to market, and we are committed to developing a wider portfolio that continues to celebrate British design and manufacturing.”
— Craig Jones
Designer of Swell for the Collective Agency
“It is an absolute honour to receive a Design Guild Mark for our carpet tile collection, Northward Bound. We are thrilled that the expert, independent judges recognised something in this collection that sets it apart. We believe passionately in designing products that impact the design world but do no harm to the world around us.”
— Kerry Cottam
Designer of Northward Bound Carpet Tiles for Milliken Industrials
“As an Englishman abroad - it is incredibly important to retain my connectivity to the UK and for my design to be recognised by Design Guild Mark is an accomplishment.”
— Michael Young
Designer of the Joseph Collection for EOQ
“We are very honoured to receive the Design Guild Mark for our glass lighting Melina we designed for Hand & Eye Studio. We are particularly happy to be recognised by the industry leaders in this way, for products we developed with a young independent UK lighting company, who is also a very good friend to us. It proves that the small team can deliver something beautiful and useful.”
— Yasuyuki Sakurai and Risa Sano
Designer of Melina for Hand & Eye Studio
“It is always gratifying to receive endorsement from one’s peers, but the Design Guild Mark is special. We have all become increasingly aware of how design is a central element in the fight against climate change and, by setting cradle-to-grave thinking as one of the judging criteria, this award is recognition that we have that as one of our core values.”
— Derek Treadwell
Designer of Full Stop for Innermost
It’s a real honour that the Design Guild Mark has been awarded to the EVEDAL lighting collection designed for IKEA. To me, this is seen as a mark of excellence within the UK design industry. It’s my main objective as a designer to develop products that are emotionally engaging for the end-user, produced to a high standard and with the mindset that a product will age and patina along with its owner. If the product does finally meet the end of its life, it can be disassembled with ease and recycled. I feel the Evedal lighting collection was very aligned with the criteria set out by Design Guild Mark which considers the whole product lifecycle.”
— Aaron Probyn
Designer of Evedal for IKEA
