Exclusive: stage designer behind Adele, Beyoncé and Kanye West's world tours among winners at top London design awards
Globally-renowned set designer Es Devlin, visionary industrial designer Paul Priestman, exciting emerging innovator Julian Melchiorri and queen of lettering Margaret Calvert have been announced as the winners at the British Land Celebration of Design Awards.
The annual awards honour the outstanding contribution of leading design figures to London and the industry, with past recipients including Zaha Hadid, Paul Smith and David Adjaye.
Es Devlin OBE receives the Panerai London Design Medal for demonstrating consistent design excellence. The three-time Olivier Award winner is best known for her work with the National Theatre, designing the London Olympic closing ceremony and collaborating with pop titans Beyoncé, Kanye West, U2, Miley Cyrus and Adele on their stage sets.
She describes London, where she has worked extensively, as "a city that you have to keep relearning, it grows noisily and I grow with it".
Paul Priestman, celebrated London designer of transport systems, accepts the Innovation Medal for entrepreneurship with design at its core.
His avant-garde creativity is behind the new Tube as well as numerous airplanes and hotels - all of which have positively impacted daily life for millions of people around the world.
"Ultimately what drives me is a desire to solve problems through a combination of good thinking, aesthetic resolution and unparalleled efficiency," he said. "There are no superfluous elements in transport design, every detail matters and designs need to be beautiful as well as functional, safe, comfortable and easy to use."
The Emerging Talent Medal goes to London-based Italian design engineer Julian Melchiorri, the first inventor in residence at the V&A Museum.
He has achieved international acclaim for his 'artificial leaf' projects - 2014's groundbreaking Silk Leaf saw him encase chloroplasts in silk fibres - that offer beautiful and useful "radical environmental solutions" for urban and industrial settings.
His 'bionic chandelier' Exhale - a key feature of the London Design Festival running from 16 to 24 September - features 70 transparent 'petals', each containing green algae harvested in his Imperial College workshop. It acts as a giant air purifier, activating the micro-organisms with a mixture of daylight and LEDs so that natural photosynthesis absorbs carbon dioxide from the air and gives out oxygen.
The prestigious Lifetime Achievement Medal is awarded to South African-born typographer Margaret Calvert OBE, whose first job was assisting on the signage of Gatwick Airport.
She went on to take a leading role designing the UK's road signage system in the 1960s, as well as creating lettering and signage systems for NHS hospitals and British Rail. Most recently she has been involved in the design of the government's new website.
The medals will be presented to the winners at a special dinner in the National Liberal Club's Gladstone Library on Monday 18 September and their work will be displayed in the Clore Study Area of the V&A.