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

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.^[1]

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:

About DFA Awardswww.dfaawards.com^[2]

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 Centrewww.hkdesigncentre.org^[3]

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.

References

1. ^{^} Media OutReach (www.media-outreach.com)
2. ^{^} www.dfaawards.com (www.dfaawards.com)
3. ^{^} www.hkdesigncentre.org (www.hkdesigncentre.org)