Designer Tom Dixon has been awarded the London Design Medal at this year's British Land Celebration of Design Awards, which also sees Vivienne Westwood, Daniel Charny and Ross Atkin commended for their work.

Dixon is one of four creatives who will receive medals at the British Land Celebration of Design, which takes place on 16 September as part of London Design Festival.

The Lifetime Achievement Medal will go to British fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, while curator and writer Daniel Charny will be given the Design Innovation Medal.

The Emerging Design Medal will be awarded to east London-based engineer Ross Atkin, whose design work involves making tech-led products for children and people with disabilities.

As the most coveted prize of the four medals, the London Design Medal is awarded to designers who have "distinguished themselves within the industry and demonstrated consistent design excellence".

This year's winner, Dixon, began his career in the mid 1980s as a self-taught British designer, and has gone on to set up the creative think-tank Space, which acted as a shop front for himself and other young designers.

In 2002 Dixon established his own brand, selling his designs from lighting and furniture to tableware and fragrances, with stores in New York, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, Milan and Tokyo.

Last year the British designer opened his new London headquarters, the Coal Office, in King's Cross, which functions as a multi-displinary hub, including an office, restaurant, design studio and shop.

Dixon is the 13th winner of the prize, which has been awarded annually since 2007. Previous winners include Es Devlin, David Adjaye, Thomas Heatherwick and, most recently, Hussein Chalayan.

"I'm still confused as to why I won't be getting the 'Emerging Design Medal', as it still feels very much like I have only just started – I've so much left to design! But I'm very touched to be noticed by this super jury, thank you very much," said Dixon.

This year's lifetime achievement award goes to fashion designer Dame Vivienne Westwood, best known for her modern punk style, and using her collections and catwalk shows as platforms for activism.

Born in 1941, Westwood began designing in 1971 before launching her own fashion line in 1984. In 2004 the V&A held a retrospective exhibition to celebrate her 34 years in fashion – the largest exhibition ever devoted to a living British fashion designer.

Earlier this year the designer sent models down the catwalk during London Fashion Week wearing aprons and tabards with anti-consumerist and climate change slogans.

Westwood is an active supporter of the charity Cool Earth in its efforts to halt rainforest destruction, and is an ambassador for Greenpeace, designing the organisation's official Save the Arctic logo in 2013.

Creative director, curator and educator Daniel Charny was awarded the Design Innovation Medal, which celebrates entrepreneurship in all its forms.

Charny is co-founder of creative consultancy From Now On, whose clients include the Design Museum, Google and Heatherwick Studio. His most recent initiative is the creative education think-and-do-tank FixEd.

The fourth Emerging Design Medal, which recognises creatives who have made an impact within five or so years of graduation, will be presented to Ross Atkin, a designer and engineer based in east London.

His work focuses on helping people with disabilities to live more independently, and introducing design and engineering to children.

The medals will be presented on 16 September 2019 at the British Land Celebration of Design, which takes place at The House of Commons in Westminster.