Designers scoop Queen’s Awards

The design industry was well-recognised at this year’s Queen’s Awards for Enterprise, scooping a total of four awards on the weekend.

The Queen’s Awards for Enterprise, which took place on 21 April, are made each year to recognise excellence in business success. Among this year’s winning companies from the design, architecture and interiors sectors were furniture manufacturer Herman Miller; the furniture and specialist joinery group Benchmark Woodworking, originally founded by Terence Conran; and James Halstead, the creator of a range of specialist floorings.

One of this year’s individual recipients was international sculptor Charles Hadcock, owner and director of The Watermark in Preston – an incubator unit for individuals and small businesses from the creative industries which he opened in 2001.

Now in their forty-first year, the Queen’s Awards are made annually to companies that are deemed to be outstanding in three categories: international trade, innovation and sustainable development. The Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion, added three years ago, is for individuals who have played an outstanding role in promoting the growth of enterprise, entrepreneurial skills and attitudes in others.