Thomas Heatherwick
Thomas Alexander Heatherwick, CBE RA RDI HonFREng (born 17 February 1970)[1] is an English designer and the founder of London-based design practice Heatherwick Studio. He works with a team of more than 200 architects, designers and entrepreneurs from his studio in King's Cross, London.[2][3]
Thomas Heatherwick
17 February 1970
- The Rolling Bridge (2005)
- B of the Bang (2005)
- East Beach Cafe (2005)
- UK pavilion at Expo 2010
- Longchamp store in SoHo
- Olympics cauldron (2012)
- Zeitz MOCAA (2017)
- Vessel (2019)
Commander of the British Empire
Heatherwick's projects, many of which have won design awards, include the UK pavilion at Expo 2010, the renovation of the Hong Kong Pacific Place, the Olympic cauldron for the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, Vessel in New York City, and the New Routemaster bus. The Garden Bridge over the Thames in Central London was cancelled.
Approach to design[edit]
Heatherwick Studio combines a wide range of design disciplines, including architecture, engineering, transport and urban planning to furniture, sculpture and product design.[111] Heatherwick has emphasised his dislike since his student days of "sliced-up ghettos of thought" which separate metalwork, product design, furniture design, embroidery, fashion, sculpture, and architecture into distinct departments, preferring to see all three-dimensional design as a single discipline.[5] Rather than working from flashes of inspiration, he compares the problem-solving orientation of his studio to solving a crime by a process of elimination.[7][5]
Exhibitions and publications[edit]
In 2012 the Victoria and Albert Museum put on a retrospective of Heatherwick Studio's work, titled Heatherwick Studio: Designing the Extraordinary.[7][2][112][113]
The British Council hosted the major touring exhibition New British Inventors: Inside Heatherwick Studio.[114] In 2015 and 2016 the exhibition travelled to six venues in East Asia and reached over 409,109 visitors. The museums and galleries the exhibition travelled to include: Singapore National Design Centre; CAFA, Beijing; Power Station of Art, Shanghai; PMQ, Hong Kong; Taipei Fine Arts Museum; and D Museum, Seoul.[115] The first US exhibition Provocations: The Architecture and Design of Heatherwick Studio travelled to three venues in North America in 2014 and 2015:[116] Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas;[117] the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles;[118] and the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New York City.
In 2012, coinciding with the Victoria & Albert exhibition, Thames and Hudson published Thomas Heatherwick: Making.[5] A second volume was released in 2013.[119]
Awards[edit]
Heatherwick's design awards include the Prince Philip Designers Prize (2006), the London Design Medal (2010),[120] the Tokyo Design and Art Environmental Award for designer of the year (2010),[121] the RIBA Lubetkin Prize (2010) for the UK Pavilion,[29] and the Compasso d'Oro (2014) for the Magis Spun chair (which is also held in the collection Compasso d'Oro collection of the ADI Design Museum in Milan).[122]
In 2004 he became the youngest practitioner to be appointed a Royal Designer for Industry.[123] He was made an Honorary Fellow of RIBA in 2007[49] and of the Royal Academy of Engineering in 2016.[124] Heatherwick has been awarded Honorary Doctorates from the Royal College of Art, University of Dundee, University of Brighton, Sheffield Hallam University, University of the Arts London, and Manchester Metropolitan University.[125][126]
He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2013 Birthday Honours for services to the design industry.[127]
In 2015, Heatherwick was named one of GQ's 50 best dressed British men.[128]
In 2019, Heatherwick received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement presented by Awards Council member Julie Taymor during the International Achievement Summit in New York City.[129][130]