The Bombay Sapphire Prize
Glass Bridge Wins Major Design Award
Designer Thomas Heatherwick was announced on September 26th as the £15,000
winner of The Bombay Sapphire Prize for excellence and innovation in glass
design for his spectacular Glass Bridge.
The
Prize-winning design - Glass Bridge - is a seven metre bridge to be set
over water and has been commissioned by Chelsfield for Paddington Basin
in London (Model pictured left. Right: two representatives
from the studio picking up the prize from Nicole Farhi).
The
Thomas Heatherwick Studio had worked alongside engineer Anthony Hunt since
1995 researching into the feasibility of building a bridge made only in
glass, using advanced adhesives but no other supporting material, fixings
or cables.
The deck of the bridge contains pieces of water-cut glass, set on edge
and laminated together to form the arch of the bridge. Handrails are made
of sheets of annealed glass.The bridge is lit from within by lights set
inside each end of the span transmitting light along the length of the
bridge.
One of the judges - international designer Tom Dixon - commented on the
winning design, 'The Glass Bridge is simply an outstanding example of
design innovation both in terms of its structure and the technical use
of glass. It is also rare in public art for something as daring as this
to be commissioned. It's great that Heatherwick has won this award - I
can't wait to see it built.'
Award
winners in the categories of Glass in Art and Glass in Design were Chiho
Hitomi for Rings (pictured left; right, the artist
picking up her award) - a hanging sculpture made from chains
of very fine lead crystal rings - and Tord Boontje for his Dragonfly and
Bird vessels, The Wednesday Collection and Wall Flowers. Both received
awards of £2,500.
The
design awards were presented by international designer Nicole Farhi and
took place in The Bombay Sapphire Blue Room at The Gallery, Vinopolis
on London's Bankside, where the short-listed and winning entries are being
exhibited.
The selection panel for The Bombay Sapphire Prize included international
designers and glass experts from The Bombay Sapphire Foundation established
last year to support and reward contemporary glass design. The judges
were: Marc Newson, Ron Arad, Tom Dixon, Lesley Jackson, Dan Klein, Rachel
Loos and Grant Gibson.
Thirty architects, designers and artists were short-listed for The Bombay
Sapphire Prize from an original submission of over 500 entries from all
over the world. All entries had to use glass as an integral part of their
design and have been created within the last two years. Judges were looking
for innovation and excellence in the use of glass in three categories:
architecture, design and art.
Bombay Sapphire Brand Manager Sharon Reid commented, 'The close association
of Bombay Sapphire - the premium gin in the striking blue bottle - with
glass design is a logical and exciting development for us. We have been
championing contemporary design for several years now and the more recent
association with glass design comes naturally from the bottle itself.
(L-R
3rd place, Glassware punctured with nails by Dutch glass artist Tord Boontje;
Double Ended Glass Dildos by South African Shiri Zinn; and Chandelier
by Nikolas Weinstein of the US.
'The Bombay Sapphire Prize clearly reflects our commitment to supporting
and rewarding contemporary glass design and we have been delighted with
the success and interest generated by this major new design award scheme.'
The short-listed entries for The Bombay Sapphire Prize are displayed in
The Bombay Sapphire Blue Room exhibition which is open to the public at
Vinopolis until January 5th 2003. The exhibition will then tour the UK
until August 2003.
The
event enjoyed a good turnout, not least for the generous quantities of
Blue Sapphire on offer!
Contact: Angela Oakes on
Tel: 020 7224 0994
Email: mailto:foundation@bombaysapphire.org
Web: http://www.bombaysapphire.com
