JW Anderson founder Jonathan Anderson has won this year's London Design Medal for his work "blending high fashion, art and craft".
While Anderson won the London Design Medal, the award scheme's highest accolade, Superflux co-founder Anab Jain was named winner of the Design Innovation Medal.
This year's Emerging Talent Medal was won by Mimica founder Solveiga Pakštaitė, while the Lifetime Achievement Medal awarded to academic Christopher Frayling.
The four design medals are awarded each year during London Design Festival (LDF), which starts this week.
"This year's medal winners demonstrate the transformative power of design, from Jonathan Anderson's work blending high fashion, art and craft, to Sir Christopher Frayling's lifelong dedication to design education and cultural history, Anab Jain's pioneering work in speculative futures, and Solveiga Pakštaitė's solutions for intuitive, inclusive and considered design," said LDF director Ben Evans.
"Each medal recipient exemplifies how creative innovation shapes our culture, industry and shared future."
A graduate of London College of Fashion, Anderson is best known for leading his own brand JW Anderson, and as creative director at fashion houses Loewe and Christian Dior.
"This award is incredibly special to me," said Anderson. "It is a true honour to be recognised by the LDF for my work within the field of craft and design, which have always been a personal passion of mine."
Jain, who co-founded Superflux with designer Jon Ardern, won the Emerging Talent Medal, which "recognises an individual or practice that has made a recent impact on the design scene and has an emerging practice showing design promise".
The studio was named Dezeen design studio of the year in 2021. It is know for its work weaving together technology, politics and culture.
"It is a real honour to receive the Design Innovation Medal," said Jain. "I share it with my Superflux co-founder Jon Ardern, and with everyone who has shaped the studio over the years.
"For us, it is recognition that speculative and future-led design is inherently innovative and entrepreneurial," she continued. "At Superflux, we have always believed that design’s greatest power lies in making complex, systemic futures viscerally felt, so people can step outside established narratives and find the courage to imagine alternate futures."
Frayling was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Medal to mark his long career in academia, including at the Royal College of Art where he established the History of Design masters course.
Alongside academia, Frayling has presented and written programmes for the BBC and Channel 4, as well as leading numerous institutions – including the Arts Council England, Design Council, Royal Mint Design Advisory Committee and Crafts Study Centre – as chairman.
Pakštaitė, who won this year's Emerging Talent Medal, founded tech food company Mimica. The brand gained international attention for Bump, a bio-reactive food label, which won the James Dyson Award in 2014.
More recently, she developed Looplets, an adaptable footwear system.
"I'm passionate about promoting inclusion and sustainable habits through design, and I think it's wonderful that work that makes the world a little bit better is being recognised," she said.
"I feel very honoured! I'm proud of what I have worked on so far but I'm even more excited by the design challenges yet to come."
Last year, designer Michael Anastassiades was awarded the London Design Medal, with architect Norman Foster receiving the lifetime achievement award.
The photography is courtesy of LDF.
London Design Festival takes place from 12 to 20 September 2026. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.