Ron Arad awarded London Design Medal

The medal is presented each year as part of the London Design Festival to a designer who has made a significant contribution to design and London.

Arad was selected by a judging panel which featured last year’s Medal winner Thomas Heatherwick; Munira Mirza, the Mayor’s advisor for arts and culture; design gallerist Libby Sellers; Nicholas Serota, director of the Tate; and Nadja Swarovski, creative director of Swarovski.

LDF director Ben Evans says, ‘Ron Arad defies categorisation – during his long career he has been an architect, product and furniture designer and achieved a formidable reputation in each of these fields.’

Evans adds, ‘He has carved out a market of his own and his work is now included in virtually every major collection. As professor of design products at the Royal College of Art for ten years, his influence on design and young designers has been huge and he has contributed greatly to the current generation of telented designers now dominating design.’

Previous winners of the London Design Medal include Heatherwick, Zaha Hadid, Paul Smith and Marc Newson.