Erwan and Ronan Bouroullec (left) with Richard Rogers, winner of the Coutts Lifetime Achievement Medal, Nicholas Roope, founder of Poke and winner of the Perrier-Jouët Design Entrepreneur Medal and Roland Lamb, designer of the award-winning Seaboard who was awarded the Swarovski Emerging Talent Medal

The Bouroullec brothers join Zaha Hadid, Paul Smith and Marc Newson with London Design Medal win

We’ve been great admirers of Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec for years. Yet it’s always reassuring to see fellow arbiters of taste in the design world reaffirming our love for these French designers and their great works they’ve produced, such as the Lianes adjustable pendant lamp, their Diapositive thermo-welded glass furnishings, and their high-backed, Alcove sofa; as well as numerous products for manufacturers including Vitra, Kvadrat, Established & Sons and Alessi.

 

The Panerai London Design Medal
The Panerai London Design Medal

They were voted Designers of the Year at the Salon du Meuble in 2002; they picked up the Danish Design Award in Copenhagen in 2010; the Designer of the Year award for Now! at Maison & Objet in Paris, in 2011; and the A&W Designer of the Year award in 2013.

Yet their acceptance of this year’s Panerai London Design Medal does put them in fairly rarefied company. Peter Saville, Marc Newson, Paul Smith, Zaha Hadid, Thomas Heatherwick and Ron Arad have all received the prize in the past, which is awarded during the London design festival to “an individual or in this case, individuals, who have distinguished themselves within the industry and demonstrated consistent design excellence over a number of years."

 

From the Bouroullecs' Diapositive collection
From the Bouroullecs' Diapositive collection

That sounds like a fair summation of the brothers’ work, though it’s still good to see them standing beside the likes of Richard Rogers, who also picked up a lifetime achievement prize. Find out more about the Bouroullecs’ win here; and for greater insight into their achievements, buy a copy of their book here.