Belmond, in collaboration with New Designers, has announced the winner of its 2021 Belmond New Designers Award. The triumphant creative, Giles Fearon from Manchester Metropolitan University, was selected for his project Naturalistic Mindfulness – a proposal for a cluster of glass sculptures shaped naturally by breathing to evoke a sense of mindfulness. Fearon now has the opportunity to create and install a bespoke creation for Belmond’s Afloat in France, a collection of river barges offering journeys through its rivers and countryside.
Now in its fourth year, the Belmond New Designers Award has already provided five talented graduates a valuable start to their design careers, with previous successors offered the chance to work alongside its team to devise bespoke pieces for their properties. The winners in 2020, Alexandra Carr and Hari Gordon, have spent the past year being introduced to the brand and will begin their creations over the coming months.
“We are delighted to have found a designer who has illustrated exceptional creativity through the craft of glass blowing inspired by the breathing techniques of mindfulness, which is in synergy with our slow-travel experiences,” says Celia Geyer, SVP Design & Project Development. “Giles’ project stood out as a design and concept that will inspire our guests to forge a closer tie to the people and places with which they seek to connect. We are looking forward to working with Giles and unveiling his design in the coming year.”
Belmond asked the Class of 2021 to design an object of desire fit for a journey aboard Afloat in France. The brief specified that the design should be a celebration of materials that are relevant to the regions that the barges frequent and create a unique experience. Additionally, materials used should reflect the quality associated with Belmond, whilst ensuring that the design is as relevant today as in several years’ time.
Entries were submitted digitally, and then shortlisted candidates were interviewed by Belmond’s expert panel of judges. The shortlisted entries impressed the judges with their variety in form, materials used, and size. These included a design by Jack Buttling from Nottingham Trent University for a portable carrier for food, drink and cards that converts into a working picnic table, and a table made of ashwood, by Ralph Shuttleworth who’s also from Nottingham Trent University, which was designed to reflect the flow of a river. Entries also varied in their function, with one entry incorporating a combination of ceramics and photography to showcase the intricate nature of water, designed by Valierie Bernadini from Morley College, and another proposing a decorative sculpture, created from wool which is native to France, designed by Louisa Knapp from University of Huddersfield. All finalists illustrated fine craftsmanship, technique and knowledge of incorporating design into slow travel in today’s world.
Fearon’s award-winning sculpture took inspiration from nature and a design approach influenced by the pandemic, which has seen people pay closer attention to mindful ways of living. The concept plays with the idea of breathing in and out and evokes the stillness associated with a slower mode of travel. It was this connection to the brief, his craftsmanship and his sustainable ethos that caught the judges’ eyes.
“I am thrilled to have an opportunity to collaborate with Belmond and its design team to materialise my proposal and install it on the Afloat in France barges,” he says on scooping this year’s prize. “The platform created by New Designers and Belmond through these awards is invaluable and a blessing for young design graduates such as myself to launch into the professional world of design in such unprecedented times.”
Fearon will also receive a cash bursary on top of his a commission to design a one-off piece for Belmond Afloat. The award aims to not only provide exposure for the designer within a high-end luxury market, but also valuable experience of the design process in a commercial environment: from prototype to production.
Part of LVMH, craftsmanship and design is central to the identity of Belmond’s family of hotels, safari lodges, trains and river barges across the globe. The company is a champion of creative talent worldwide and has worked with a host of renowned designers and craftspeople – including Charlotte de Tonnac and Hugo Sauzay of Festen Architecture, who led the recent renovation of Belmond Splendido Mare, and British designer Matthew Williamson, who recently designed Suite ‘No. 67’ at Belmond La Residencia Hotel in Deià.
