Sir David Adjaye scoops inaugural Charlotte Perriand Award

Architect Sir David Adjaye is announced the winner of the 2022 Charlotte Perriand Award, the Créateurs Design Awards’ inaugural prize for design trailblazers

landscape portrait of David Adjaye shot by Ed Reeve
Architect David Adjaye.
(Image credit: Photography: Ed Reeve)

Architect Sir David Adjaye has been announced the recipient of the 2022 Charlotte Perriand Award. The honour, which forms part of the annual series of Créateurs Design Awards (which include categories such as Best Residential Project, Best Commercial Project and Best Product Design), is the first of its kind, with Adjaye scooping the inaugural prize dedicated to design trailblazers – just like legendary French creative Charlotte Perriand

The new Charlotte Perriand Award has been founded in memory of the iconic French architect and designer. ‘This is the first time the Perriand family has allowed her name to be used beyond her immediate work,' the organisers point out, as Perriand’s daughter, Pernette Perriand-Barsac, celebrates Adjaye’s win: ‘When I read [Adjaye’s] words in the press or his approach that he describes on social networks, I see how great [his and my mother’s] proximity is, to the point that a real dialogue takes place beyond time.’

illustrated portrait of architect david adjaye


(Image credit: Gary Dadd)

Says Adjaye: ‘[Charlotte Perriand] was really expansive in thinking about what the profession could be and understood the role of designers in their responsibility toward making the 21st century as beautiful and as empowering and as edifying [as possible] for people of all races – and for our human civilization to thrive.’ Recent projects by Adjaye Associates include the Cherry Groce Memorial Pavilion in Brixton, London, and 130 William in New York, while an extensive list of upcoming schemes features works such as the Africa Institute in Sharjah.

Ghanaian-British architect Adjaye is widely celebrated in his industry and beyond, having received a slew of honours, from his 2017 knighthood to the 2021 Royal Gold Medal (he was the first Black architect to receive it). Contributing to a better society and helping create positive change through design excellence are goals that form part of Adjaye’s practice – and values shared by Perriand, making this award a fitting recognition of the acclaimed architect’s important body of work.

INFORMATION

adjaye.com (opens in new tab)

createursdesignawards.com (opens in new tab)

Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture Editor at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018) and Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020).