DesignWeek Awards 2011

This week I went to the Designweek awards held at the Park Lane Hilton in London. I was kindly invited by Phil Le Monde and Mark Cameron from Gavin Martin Colournet to join their table together with Magpie Studios as they were shortlisted for an an award in the packaging category for the new Gavin Martin Colournet proof bags.

It was a fabulous evening - everyone in their glad rags! The ballroom in the Hilton filled with some of the best creatives in the industry together with a lot of people there for a free drink (that includes me!) 

Below is the picture of our merry table - that's me with the bright blue waistcoat!

The evening started full of hope! the Gavin Martin project was shortlisted for packaging and Magpie were also shortlisted in the print design category for The Christmas stamp miniature book for Royal Mail. ...and (quite by chance) I had four projects that I had worked on (all produced on Fenner Paper) shortlisted as well ! (NB Studio - New Blood Posters, The Chase - 26&26 calendar, Hat-Trick - Ebbsfleet Valley Earthworks Brochure, NB Studio - Oxford Thinking) - not bad for a small little paper company like us!

Sadly for my fellow diners, GBH scooped the Packaging category with the phone packaging for Puma but the Gavin Martin Colournet proof bags (pictured right) was commended which is a great accolade.

Any small disappointment was short lived as Magpie then scooped the Print design award with the Christmas stamp miniature book ...and here, pictured below are the three very happy directors of Magpie, Jamie Ellul, Ben Christie and David Azurdia:

...and here's their (very lovely) job: 

The awards were presented swiftly and efficiently by the host Ian Moore and DesignWeek editor, Lynda Relph-Knight. Particularly worthy of note (an perhaps unsurprisingly) was the apple ipad which was awarded joint winner of the Consumer product design category and which also won Best of Show. It was lovely to see Harriet Devoy accepting the awards for Apple. I worked on projects with Harriet when she was at Johnson Banks and The Chase - Apple's gain has been graphic design's loss ...we miss her!

It was a great evening - good company and food and my thanks go to Gavin Martin Colournet for inviting me and Magpie for putting up with me on their table!

http://www.designweek.co.uk/
http://www.gavinmartin.co.uk/
http://www.magpie-studio.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 10.03.2011