Hong Kong Design Centre Honours Global Design Titans with its Most Prestigious Awards in 2018

DFA Lifetime Achievement Award conferred to Sir
Terence Conran

DFA Design Leadership Award awarded to Dr. Andrew
Dent

DFA World’s Outstanding
Chinese Designer goes
to Mr. Lyndon Neri & Ms. Rossana Hu

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HONG KONG, CHINA - Media OutReach - 1 November 2018 - Today, the DFA
Awards of Hong Kong Design Centre announced the 2018 recipients of the DFA Lifetime Achievement Award (DFA LAA),
DFA Design Leadership Award (DFA DLA),
and DFA World’s Outstanding Chinese
Designer (DFA WOCD), the highest and most prestigious design honours of DFA
Awards in the year. The DFA LAA is conferred to Sir Terence Conran, one of the
world’s best-known designers, retailers and restaurateurs. Concurrently, this year’s DFA DLA will honour
Dr. Andrew Dent of Material ConneXion, a leading global expert in sustainable
and advanced material research and development. The DFA WOCD will go to Mr. Lyndon
Neri and Ms. Rossana  Hu, architects and
co-founders of Neri&Hu Design and Research Office. The three esteemed awards
will be presented at the Business of Design Week Gala Dinner on 7^th
December in Hong Kong.

 

Founded
in 2003, the DFA Awards are widely known in the industry as one of the most
important and prestigious honours stemming from the region. The Awards
encompasses five-major programmes, with three pillars that recognise individual
contributions to the advancement and development of design. The awardees of the
2018 edition are global titans who embody the power of design and whose forward
thinking practices have indelibly impacted living in the 21^st
century. 

 

DFA Lifetime Achievement Award 2018 (DFA
LAA)

 

Sir Terence Conran

The DFA Lifetime Achievement Award signifies
the design community’s respect for individuals who have made life-long
contributions to design profession, education and the society. Sir Terence
Conran (United Kingdom) is one of the most successful and influential figures
in the design world. As the recipient of the DFA LAA, he is recognised for his
lifelong contributions to the design profession and his visionary approach that
has shaped designs across a variety of fields. His business empire encompasses
a furniture-making business, an architecture and planning group, a design
company, a book publishing company, and over 50 restaurants. Sir Terence has
created a global footprint of influence with business interests from London to
Tokyo. Brands developed at his helm include Habitat, the homeware store that
revolutionised mass access to the stylish home design; and many others. He also
spearheaded the founding of the Design Museum. An established force in the
international business community, Sir Terrance’s exceptional achievements have
shaped a better future for humanity.

 

DFA Design Leadership
Award 2018 (DFA DLA)

 

Dr. Andrew Dent

The DFA DLA is presented to a corporate leader who
consistently demonstrates outstanding business performance and leadership, whilst
supporting the development of design in his organisation and the international
community through strategic and innovative design solutions. This year’s
recipient, Dr. Andrew Dent (United Kingdom) is a leading expert in the field of
sustainable and innovative material strategies. He is the Executive
Vice-President & Vice-President, Library and Materials Research, Material
ConneXion, Inc., and Chief Material Scientist at SANDOW, where he plays a key
role in the expansion of their technical knowledge. He also directs the
implementation of consulting projects as well as the selection of innovative,
sustainable and advanced materials for Material ConneXion’s library. In his
current role Dr. Dent has helped hundreds of clients–from Whirlpool and Adidas
to BMW and Procter & Gamble–develop or improve their products through the
use of innovative materials. At the vanguard of his field, his insights continue
to play an important part in creating a new generation of more sustainable
products.

 

DFA World’s Outstanding Chinese Designer 2018 (DFA WOCD)

 

Mr. Lyndon Neri & Ms. Rossana Hu

DFA WOCD awards designers of Chinese
origin who have significant design achievement and international recognition. Renowned design practitioners Mr. Lyndon
Neri and Ms. Rossana Hu (Mainland China) are founding partners of Neri&Hu
Design and Research Office, a multi-disciplinary international architectural
design practice based in Shanghai, China. Their design philosophy is founded on
a passion for showing that Chinese creativity exists, which has been built upon
to deliver acclaimed projects across the globe. Spanning the fields of
architecture, interiors, master planning, product design and installations as
well as branding and graphics, they are one of most recognisable design practitioners
working from Mainland China today. Looking forward, they want to work on
socially engaged projects that will allow for greater engagement with general
communities.

 

In celebration of design
excellence by DFA Awards, a series of events will be held at Hong Kong
Convention and Exhibition Centre in December 2018:

4th December 2018	DFA Awards Presentation Ceremony for DFA Design for Asia Awards and DFA Hong Kong Young Design Talent Award
6th December 2018	DFA: Design for Asia Forum at Business of Design Week (BODW). Selected winners from DFA Design for Asia Awards will be invited to share their design thinking.
7th December 2018	Presentation Ceremony of DFA Lifetime Achievement Award, DFA Design Leadership Award and DFA World’s Outstanding Chinese Designer at BODW Gala Dinner
6th — 8th December 2018	DFA Awards Exhibition at DesignInspire, showcasing the winning projects or portfolios of DFA Awards 2018. It is also a parallel event to BODW.

 

About DFA Awards
www.dfaawards.com

In 2003, the Hong Kong Design Centre launched the DFA Awards to
underpin the role of designers in society, to celebrate design excellence with
impact in Asia and for Asia, as well as to recognise the rising force of
emerging designers in Hong Kong through its five-major award programmes –
The DFA Lifetime Achievement Award signifies
the design community’s respect for individuals who have made life-long
contributions to design profession, education and the society. The DFA Design Leadership Award recognises
business leaders who create exceptional sustainable business success through
strategic and innovative use of design. The DFA World’s Outstanding Chinese Designer is a major
accolade for designers of Chinese origin with significant design achievement
and international recognition. The DFA
Design for Asia Awards covers a wide range of design that embodies
Asian aesthetics and culture and influences the design trends in Asia and for
Asia. The DFA Hong Kong Young
Design Talent Award nurtures the development of local emerging
designers and provides sponsorship for them to undertake work or further
education overseas.

 

About Hong Kong
Design Centre
www.hkdesigncentre.org

Hong
Kong Design Centre (HKDC) was founded in 2001 as a strategic partner of the
HKSAR Government in establishing Hong Kong as centre of design excellence in
Asia. HKDC continues its public mission to promote wider and strategic use of
design and design thinking to create business value and improve societal
well-being. Our initiatives are anchored by five major work directions:
CONNECT, CELEBRATE, NURTURE, ADVANCE and ENGAGE.

 

HKDC’s flagship
programmes include Business of Design Week (since 2002) — Asia’s leading annual
conference and event on Design, Innovation and Brands; DFA Awards (since 2003)
— a widely recognised design awards that celebrates outstanding designs with
Asian perspectives; Design Incubation Programme (since 2012) and Fashion
Incubation Programme (since 2016) — 2-year incubation programmes to nurture
future design and fashion entrepreneurs; FASHION ASIA HONGKONG (since 2016) — a
fashion initiative combining conversations, interactions and cultural exchanges
to energise the city’s image, and position it as an Asian hub for fashion trade
and business development; Knowledge of Design Week (since 2006) — an annual
thematic design knowledge sharing platform that explores how design can solve
complex challenges of our society.