Land Rover celebrates design and creativity with 2016 Born Awards
Movie: Land Rover chief design officer Gerry McGovern and Jean-Christophe Chopin of crowdfunding platform Born introduce the 2016 Born Awards in this movie filmed for the brand by Dezeen.
The Born Awards is an annual ceremony held in luxury resort Courchevel, France, which celebrates premium design across architecture, product design, art and fashion.
"Born is an online market network, which helps small and medium brands get financing to develop their next new product," explains Born CEO Chopin in the movie.
"We are celebrating the best premium lifestyle creatives. All of these people had a great idea and realised it."
The Born Awards are supported by Land Rover and the ceremony coincided with the launch of the brand's new soft top Range Rover.
"We are doing the press launch of our new Range Rover Evoque Convertible and we are also here celebrating creativity with Born," explains McGovern.
"All the award winners were given a Evoque Convertible to experience for a few days and give them a realistic impression about how these vehicles perform."
The award ceremony took place at the L'Apogée Courchevel hotel, with awards handed out to winners in ten different categories.
McGovern, who served as the president of the jury this year, says he was particularly impressed by a cantilever chair by Milan-based designer Odo Fioravanti, which was informed by the shape of a dragon fly.
"It almost looks like it wouldn’t hold you, but actually it is beautifully balanced," he explains. "I love that he has made the ribbing visible on the back, which gives it rigidity."
McGovern also praised a collection of gadgets aimed at parents called BleepBleeps. Designed by Tom Evans, the range includes fertility kits, baby monitors and ear thermometers all packed in brightly coloured plastic cases that reference children's building blocks.
"It's wearable tech for parents," McGovern says. "What I loved about them was that he made them all look like a character in a very simple graphical way."
Chopin, who was also on the jury, picked out a short film by artist Annina Roescheisen for special mention, as well as a racing bicycle designed as a collaboration between by Italian brands De Rosa and Pininfarina.
"The Born Awards is truly a unique ceremony, which goes across multiple categories," he says. "It creates an opportunity for all of the award winners to get together and we have seen fantastic collaborations in the past."
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He adds: "One of our award winners said: 'We need to keep the freedom and we need to keep the craziness.' That is the Born Awards spirit."
This movie was produced by Dezeen for Land Rover.