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Australian-born industrial designer Marc Newson was awarded the second London Design Medal at a VIP gala dinner hosted by Phillips de Pury & Company at their gallery and sponsored by Aston Martin.

Marc Newson

Chosen by a distinguished panel of design figures and chaired by Festival Chairman Sir John Sorrell, the Design Medal is awarded to a designer who has made a significant contribution to design, is connected to London and is currently setting an inspiring example.  The award was presented by Aston Martin CEO, Dr Ulric Bez.  Last year’s winner of the inaugural award was none other than Zaha Hadid.

Ben Evans, Festival Director, said “It is a great honour to present the London Design Medal to Marc Newson in recognition of his outstanding contribution to design.  With almost no area of modern life beyond his reach or vision Marc is an inspiration to all.”

Born in 1963 in Sydney, Marc Newson has made a career out of creating a better-looking future.  With his formative years being played out against the space race and the moon landings, there is a retro-futurist sensibility to Newson’s work.  “The future used to be really futuristic”, he says.  “There was a sense of utopia about how it might be.  We didn’t know that when we got there it was going to be so banal.  The job of a designer is to look at the future.”

Ikepod

From the Newson-designed Qantas First Class Lounge and now the new Qantas A380 “superjumbo” jet to the Ikepod Black Hole Watch (produced in an edition of just 66) and suitcases for Samsonite, Newson has turned his design acumen to many aspects of our lives and is one of the most versatile designers in the world.

Lockheed Lounge

He is perhaps best known as the record-breaking star of the “design-art” market for sculptural furniture, breaking auction records along the way with his Lockheed Lounge chaise longue (of which there are now 13, one owned by pop star Madonna) sold at Christie’s for $1.5 million in October 2007, setting an auction record for a piece of work by a living designer.

Newson divides his time between Paris, London, Australia and Thailand.