London Design Festival 2026 Medal Winners

The Lifetime Achievement Medal was presented to Sir Christopher Frayling by Sir Tristram Hunt. It honours an individual who has made significant and fundamental contributions to the design industry over their career.

Sir Christopher Frayling is is a British cultural historian, academic, broadcaster and champion of design education. Educated at Churchill College, Cambridge, where he was also awarded his PhD, Frayling’s academic work has seen him hold positions at the Royal College of Art, as a Professor of Cultural History, during which he set up the pioneering History of Design postgraduate course with the V&A Museum, and as Rector of the RCA. During his long-standing tenure he strengthened the institution's links to industry, technology and manufacturing and reinforced its international reputation in fields such as automotive and product design, contributing to London’s emergence as a global creative hub.

A prolific voice across radio and television, Frayling has written and presented programmes for the likes of the BBC and Channel 4, speaking on subjects ranging from art, design and visual history. He has also shaped national creative policy; he was a Governor of the British Film Institute through the 1980s, he served as Chairman of Arts Council England from 2004-2009 and has held roles as Chairman of the Design Council, Chairman of the Royal Mint Design Advisory Committee, Chairman of the Crafts Study Centre, an 1851 Commissioner and is a long-serving Trustee of the V&A. Frayling is currently Chancellor of Arts University Bournemouth, Professor Emeritus of Arts at the University of Lancaster, Professor Emeritus of Cultural History at the Royal College of Art, and a Fellow of Churchill College Cambridge. His career has championed Britain’s creative industries, raising discussions around the funding for arts and education and carrying out academic research to support these public discourses. In 2000, he was knighted for "services to art and design education".

"I am deeply honoured to receive this special award. Since my early childhood, design has been an integral part of my life and. I feel extremely privileged to have indulged in this passion every day of my life since.Since 2003, the London Design Festival has been drawing the public's attention to the key importance of design in everyday life. Through my teaching, my publications, my broadcasts - and my leadership of the RCA - I have been on a similar mission, for even longer! So I am delighted - bowled over, actually - to have been selected for this year's Lifetime Achievement Medal, and to join such a very distinguished group of previous medallists” - Sir Christopher Frayling

The London Design Medal was presented to Jonathan Anderson by Es Devlin CBE. It is the highest accolade bestowed upon an individual who has distinguished themselves within the industry and demonstrated consistent design excellence.

Operating as both curator and creator, Jonathan Anderson bridges high fashion with a curatorial design ethos and has become a defining voice in fashion. He has earned critical acclaim and commercial success with the collections he has designed for the likes of his eponymous label, JW Anderson, as the Creative Director of LOEWE, and in his current role as Creative Director at Christian Dior across women’s, men’s and haute couture.

An alumnus of the London College of Fashion, Anderson has been guided by his unique design aesthetic which presents a contemporary interpretation of masculinity and femininity. He launched JW Anderson menswear in 2008 and expanded his thought-provoking silhouettes into womenswear in 2010. In 2013 he was named Creative Director of LOEWE, turning the Spanish house into a dynamic cultural brand, blending craftsmanship with a playful and surrealist dialogue.

His visionary work has led Jonathan Anderson to become one of the industry’s most feted designers, being awarded accolades throughout his career such as; the first fashion designer to be awarded both Menswear and Womenswear Designer of the Year 2015 by the British Fashion Council; appointed by the Prime Minister to the Board of Trustees of the V&A in 2019, named as an Honoree of the Creativity Fashion Award by the British Fashion Council in 2020, won Designer of the Year in 2024 by the British Fashion Council for his work at JW Anderson and LOEWE, and named one of the Most Influential People of 2024 in Time Magazine’s Time100 list.

Beyond the runway, Anderson is a champion of craft and art; throughout his career he has curated exhibitions at The Hepworth Wakefield and the Offer Waterman gallery, he founded LOEWE FOUNDATION Craft Prize, the world’s first international award for contemporary craft in 2016.

"This award is incredibly special to me. It is a true honour to be recognised by the LDF for my work within the field of craft and design, which have always been a personal passion of mine.” - Jonathan Anderson

The Design Innovation Medal was presented to Anab Jain by Justine Simons OBE. It celebrates entrepreneurship in all its forms, both locally and internationally, and honours an individual for whom design lies at the core of their development and success.

Anab Jain's Co-founder and Director of Superflux, is a designer, futurist, filmmaker and educator, who carries out the studio’s mission of leaving a meaningful legacy for the planet and its future custodians.

Born and raised in India's postcolonial landscapes, Jain studied filmmaking at the National Institute of Design and then moved to London to earn her Masters at the Royal College of Art.

Together with Jon Ardern, she co-founded Superflux in 2009, a multidisciplinary design studio based in London which focuses on speculative design and experiential futures. Its work crosses technology, politics, and nature to bridge the gap between the knowledge and key actions that need to be carried out to create safer and more critical collective futures and climates. Superflux has worked with organisations such as the United Nations, Google DeepMind, Ingka Group, and the UK Government, while its artistic works have been exhibited internationally at institutions such as the Barbican, MoMA New York, the V&A, and La Biennale di Venezia, and are held in permanent collections including the European Patent Office. The studio was awarded Dezeen's Design Studio of the Year (2021) and Jain and Ardern were awarded the Royal Designer for Industry Award (RDI) in speculative design (2022), the highest accolade for designers in the UK.

Anab’s pioneering work and role as a thought leader in design-led foresight, emerging technologies and ecological thinking, have resulted in her being awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of the Arts, London and being the recipient of the Award of Excellence ICSID, UNESCO Digital Arts Award, and Grand Prix Geneva Human Rights Festival, as well as awards from Apple and the UK Government’s Innovation Department.

For the past decade, she has served as Professor of Design Investigations at the University of Applied Arts Vienna, continuing to reframe the designer's role, a mission articulated in her co-authored book Designing Questions (Hatje Cantz, 2026).

"It is a real honour to receive the Design Innovation Medal. I share it with my Superflux co-founder Jon Ardern, and with everyone who has shaped the studio over the years. For us, it is recognition that speculative and future-led design is inherently innovative and entrepreneurial. At Superflux, we have always believed that design’ s greatest power lies in making complex, systemic futures viscerally felt, so people can step outside established narratives and find the courage to imagine alternate futures” - Anab Jain

The Emerging Design Medal was presented to Solveiga Pakštaitė by Jemma Read CBE. It recognises an individual or practice that has made a recent impact on the design scene and has an emerging practice showing design promise.

Solveiga Pakštaitė, Chief Design Officer and Founder of Mimica, is an award-winning industrial designer and entrepreneur who specialises in user-centred and sustainable design. Her multidisciplinary practice addresses everyday products and systems to create more inclusive, sustainable and intuitive approaches.Pakštaitė gained critical acclaim after inventing Bump, while studying Industrial Design & Technology at Brunel University London, a temperature-sensitive food label that turns bumpy when food spoils to cut food waste and was originally conceived to help visually impaired individuals monitor food freshness. The invention earned the prestigious James Dyson Award and led to the founding of her food tech venture, Mimica, alongside industry experts Laurence Kayson and Lawrie Matthews, whose technology is now being adopted by major international food manufacturers and retailers.

Pakštaitė’s multidisciplinary approach to innovation is driven by her experience in human-centred design research, trend forecasting and UX consulting. Alongside her work with Mimica, she advises global organisations on sustainability, packaging innovation and emerging consumer needs, and holds an Honorary Lectureship at University College London in social entrepreneurship and human-centred design. Her recent work includes Looplets, an adaptable footwear system co-developed during her design fellowship with Open Style Lab that enables off-the-shelf shoes to be customised for greater stability, accessibility and personal expression.

“I'm passionate about promoting inclusion and sustainable habits through design, and I think it's wonderful that work that makes the world a little bit better is being recognised. I feel very honoured! I'm proud of what I have worked on so far but I'm even more excited by the design challenges yet to come.” - Solveiga Pakštaitė