The Drum Scottish Design Awards results: Gras and Freight Design take home the top design trophies
Gras and Freight Design took home the top trophies in the design categories at The Drum's Scottish Design Awards last night.
Gras and Freight Design take home the top trophies
The awards, now in their 20th year, are split across the two categories of design and architecture, and seek to reward and celebrate the work emerging from Scotland in both sectors.
In the architecture categories Reiach and Hall Architects picked up the Grand Prix while Moxon Architects took home the Chairman's Award.
Edinburgh-based Gras was awarded the Grand Prix for its work for Craft Scotland & Emergents – a monolithic polystyrene plinth designed to exhibit the works of 22 young Scottish Designer Makers at London Design Fair.
The mixed judging board included contributions from Rob Wade, group creative director at Smith & Milton; Eric Parry founder of Eric Parry Architects who was chairman for the architecture panel; Franki Goodwin, creative director at Saatchi & Saatchi and more. For design entrants, the panel was chaired by TBWA's head of design Danny Bickerton.
Commenting on the design Grand Prix winner Bickerton said: "The Craft & Design Pavilion was a really stand out piece for us. The multi level monolith weaved Scottish heritage into its structure with brilliant subtlety and the craft that went into carving the landscape really caught our eye. The platforms segment each of the different artists work well, giving a crisp modern backdrop. Overall it felt like a very unique piece of design work."
Taking home the prestigious design Chairman's Award was Freight Design which won the trophy for its A Drink Of One's Own: Cocktails For Literary Ladies book.
"Cocktails for Literary Ladies' was a piece I kept coming back to," said Bickerton of his chairman's pick. "I found the storytelling a really strong feature in the beautifully printed book. I'm not a fan of 'design for designs sake' and this books simplicity gave it it's character. It's mix of illustration and photography really worked for me. Ultimately it felt like a very honest body of work."
Glasgow-based studio Freytag Anderson was awarded Design Agency of the Year, while other winners on the night included Whitespace, RRDCreative and Nevis Design.
Commenting on the architecture Grand Prix, which was awarded to Reiach and Hall Architects for the team's work on Oriam, Scotland's national sports performance centre, the judges said: "It’s an elegant structure and the translucent covering rises head and shoulders above other similar sports centres, literally and in its beauty."
The architecture chairman's award, meanwhile, was received by Moxon Architects of its Culardoch Shieling build, a shelter designed for small gatherings of friends overlooking upper Glen Gairn and the eastern flank of Ben Avon in the Cairngorm Mountains.
A full list of this year's winners can be viewed on the Scottish Design Awards website.
The awards, now in their 20th year, took place at Glasgow's Grand Central hotel with the winners being revealed as part of a glitzy black-tie ceremony.
The Drum Scottish Design Awards are run in partnership with Urban Realm – a leading body of architecture press – and E-Architect.