The winners of the SBID International Design Awards 2014 were revealed in a ceremony at the prestigious Dorchester hotel in London, on Friday.
Reaching its fourth year running, the SBID Awards has grounded its position as one of the most prestigious celebrations of excellence in the design industry calendar. This year saw a 15% increase in entries than previous years from over 30 countries around the globe including the UK, Canada, Turkey, China, Russia, USA, Australia, UAE and more.
Winning an SBID International Design Award is a high achievement as all 15 categories of design excellence are assessed by a technical panel, the public vote and a panel of leading industry experts who look for outstanding examples of technical content and aesthetic creativity.
Acumen Design Associates received the Overall Winner Award at the SBID International Design Awards 2014 for The First Apartments First Class Suites for Etihad Airways. This category holds the title as the ‘SBID choice’ and is given to the project that comes out on the top after an amalgamation of the judges choices and the public votes have been considered. The winning project was based on the roll out of Etihad's first class cabin on Airbus A380 aircraft, designed to bring the individuality and exclusivity of ‘a luxury boutique hotel experience that embraced Arabian modernism’. The First Apartments are the world’s largest, most luxurious and highly customised First Class airline suites, achieved via a revolutionary patent pending cabin layout.
SBID President, Vanessa Brady OBE said “Year after year, we are astonished by the volume of entries and support received. The SBID Awards continue to mark its place as one of the finest celebrations of design excellence, securing its international edge at the forefront of design”.
Each year, the SBID International Design Awards selects an individual who has against all odds successfully championed a specific sector of the creative industries. Bill Kenwright CBE was awarded with the SBID Fellow of the Year title for his services to the creative industries and is held in the highest esteem by the theatre, TV, radio and film industry.
All winners each received a beautiful SBID International Award 2014 trophy, specially made by Czech based glass specialists; Sans Souci Glass Deco. A full list of the winners of this year’s SBID International Design Awards can be found on the website.
All of the interior design projects from the winners, and the shortlisted finalists are featured in The SBID International Design Excellence Awards Book 2014.
The prestigious panel of sponsors included May Design Series; ABB Group; Natuzzi; Wools of New Zealand; Maison &Objet; Grangewood; Stackhouse Poland, Cimitree; Wydenham; Muraspec; KBB Magazine; Marshalls, Zip Heaters; Vessel Gallery and San Souci. A special SBID Awards event for sponsors and VIPS was held at the House of Lords on 12th November 2014.
The full line-up of judges for next year's awards will include: Kevin Mau, Senior Creative Director at The Boeing Company; Ben McOwen Wilson, Director of Content Partnerships at YouTube; Jane Preston, Facilities Manager UK, Real Estate & Workplace Services at Google; David Lewis, Managing Director of Sunseeker London; Christopher Jenner, Creative Director at Eurostar; John Mathers, CEO of the Design Council; Mathew Dalby, Design Director at yoo; Carolina Calzada, Managing Director at Global Color Research; Patrick Taylor, Managing Director of Taylist Media; Katharine Pooley, Founder & Managing Director of Katharine Pooley Ltd; Theresa Dowling, Editor and Group Editorial Director for Progressive Market Intelligence design titles (FX, Blueprint).
