Cecil Balmond nominated for Prince Philip Designers Prize 2011
Sri Lankan born Cecil Balmond has been shortlisted for the Prince
Philip Designers Prize 2011, the winner of which will be announced on
November 29. The prize is Britain’s longest running design award,
celebrating design careers which have made an outstanding contribution
to British business and society.
Cecil Balmond |
Previous winners include inventor Sir James Dyson (1997) and designer
Thomas Heatherwick (2006).
The prize was first awarded in 1959 and has since recognised
contenders working in fields ranging from graphics and household
products to architecture and engineering. The judging panel is chaired
by HRH the Duke of Edinburgh.
Balmond grew up and Sri Lanka and studied at Trinity College Kandy
and the Colombo University and is one of the most influential designers
of his generation. Pushing the limits of what is possible, his “genius
has been crucial to the emergence of a new aesthetic” (Nicolai
Ouroussoff, New York Times).
Interrogating and applying advanced geometric thinking to how space
can be organised and experienced, Balmond creates new horizons in
design, engineering and art.
His dynamic approach is informed by the sciences of complexity,
non-linear organisation and emergence of form.
Balmond set up his own research-focused practice, Balmond Studio, in
2010. The studio undertakes a variety of design, art and architecture
projects and is currently working on a Sterling Pound 3 million national
monument, The Star of Caledonia, for the border between England and
Scotland and a $400m mixed-use development in Asia. |