Rei Kawakubo honoured during London Design Festival

Rei Kawakubo has been honoured at the London Design Festival with the 2024 Lifetime Achievement Medal, an achievement recognising the Japanese designer for her “significant and fundamental contributions to the design industry” throughout her career.

Alongside three other medal recipients, she was selected by a panel of designers, industry commentators and previous winners, including English fashion designer Ozwald Boateng OBE; director of the design festival Ben Evans CBE; and British design critic Alice Rawsthorn OBE.

Those honoured were done so for being pioneers across their respective fields, from “redefining beauty and fashion to advancing sustainable design and humanitarian solutions”, a press release read. The winners received their medals at an awards ceremony on September 16 at Space House in London.

In regards to Kawakubo’s medal, Rawsthorn stated: “One of the extraordinary things about Rei Kawakubo is how she uses her practice and the brand to allow her to experiment with anything that seems to interest her.

“Every aspect of her work reflects her own sensibility, and also our perceptions of her. Other designers have done this in the past but none of them have done it quite as compellingly and critically, as audaciously, as Kawakubo.”

The designer was joined by makeup artist Pat McGrath DBE, who received the London Design Medal supported by Johnnie Walker Blue Label. The accolade recognised McGrath for her “consistent design excellence” and “illustrious career” as “the world’s most influential and in-demand makeup artist”.

Visionary designer Natsai Audrey Chieza, meanwhile, won the Design Innovation Media supported by Bentley Motors. Chieza is the founder and CEO of Faber Futures, a firm set out to bridge the gap between science and real-world applications. She is also the co-founder of Normal Phenomena of Life, an initiative focused on the use of biotechnology in the creation of new materials supporting climate goals.

The Emerging Design Medal went to Harry Blakiston for his work for Insulate Ukraine, an initiative dedicated to installing triple-glazed temporary polyethylene windows in bomb-damaged homes.