Dezeen Magazine

BRIT Award trophies by Es Devlin and Yinka llori

Es Devlin and Yinka llori reveal pair of Brit Awards trophies

Designers Es Devlin and Yinka llori have created a pair of trophies for this year's Brit Awards that are designed to be gifted on to someone else.

This year, music artists who win a Brit Award will receive two statuettes – one designed by Ilori and one by Devlin.

The winning artists will be encouraged to keep one trophy and gift the other to someone "worthy".

BRIT Award trophies by Es Devlin and Yinka llori
Winners will receive two Brit Awards trophies, one to keep and one to gift

"Yinka and I thought that the best award that one could receive would be agency to award another," said Devlin.

"Each recipient is invited to award the second trophy to someone they consider worthy – it might be recognition or it might be someone that does something entirely unrelated to music."

BRIT Award trophies by Es Devlin
Es Devlin's trophy is engraved with a maze-like pattern

According to Ilori, the concept for the trophies was born from random acts of kindness, which the pair witnessed during last year's coronavirus lockdown.

"The idea came from the experience of lockdown, where your neighbour you've lived beside for six years and never say hello to suddenly gave you flowers, foods, acts of kindness," he explained.

"I wanted to capture that. I would describe it as two artists from different disciplines, different inspirations, coming together to design a trophy based around the idea of giving something back."

Colourful statue by Yinka Ilori
Yinka Ilori's statue is "an explosion of colour"

Described by the organisers as the award's "first collaborative double-trophy design", the statuettes were conceived as a pair but each designer was responsible for creating their own version.

Like all Brit Awards trophies, they are based on the form of Britannia – a helmeted female warrior who is the personification of Britain.

The larger statue designed by Ilori is covered in his trademark colourful patterns and described by the designer as "an explosion of colour".

Devlin's smaller, silver-coloured statue will be engraved with an angular maze that celebrates "the paths many of those working within the creative industries have had to tread in order to progress through this challenging year".

The awards will be presented as part of a ceremony in London's O2 Arena on 11 May.

Ilori and Devlin are the latest artists to design the trophies for the Brit Awards, which are organised annually by the British Phonographic Industry trade association to promote British popular music.

For the 2019 ceremony, David Adjaye created a translucent glass trophy, while Anish Kapoor designed a sculptural red version in 2018 and Zaha Hadid created a statuette to "represent diversity" for the 2017 awards.