Don Cameron Lifts Royal Award

Honour for hot air balloon designer and manufacturer

24 October 2000

Don Cameron, the hot air balloon designer and manufacturer, is the winner of this year's Prince Philip Designers Prize.

He was presented with the award today by Prince Philip in a ceremony held at the Design Council. There were special commendations this year for Jonathan Ive, the product designer behind the Apple i-Mac computer, and David Marks and Julia Barfield, the architects of the British Airways London Eye.

Don Cameron received the award in recognition of a 35-year career which has seen him almost single-handedly raise public awareness of design's potential to break down barriers in his field.

His achievements include designing the Breitling Orbiter, which circumnavigated the globe in 1999, and also the balloon which was first to cross the Atlantic in 1986.

Meanwhile, Cameron Balloons, formed in 1971, now makes more than 75% of the world's 'special shape' balloons - originally made possible by a computerised design package which Cameron developed in the mid-70s. The company exports 85% of these balloons and won the Queens Award for Export in 1989.

The prize, now in its 41st year, is judged by a panel chaired by Prince Philip and organised by the Design Council.

In addition to Jonathan Ive and David Marks and Julia Barfield, the other finalists this year were:

• John Barnard, who has enjoyed a distinguished career in racing car design
• Philippe Handford, a product designer whose varied work includes a cutlery set suitable for use by arthritis sufferers and innovative designs for autoclaves for Prestige Medical
• Ian Liddell, whose expertise in engineering design has been used in buildings from the Millennium Dome and the reconstructed Globe Theatre to the Sydney 2000 Olympic stadium
• Alan Zoeftig, who co-founded Zoeftig & Company and for three decades has made it a byword for modern furniture design of the highest quality

Since joining Apple Computer inc in 1992, Jonathan Ive has not only transformed the company's fortunes with his revolutionary designs for the i-Mac and other products, but he has also set new standards in making computer technology accessible and has been described by the New York Times as 'perhaps the most influential designer in the computer world'.

David Marks and Julia Barfield were not only the architects of the British Airways London Eye but they also led the project over seven years, raising finance and co-ordinating a multinational team of specialists to achieve construction in just 14 months.

Ends

Notes to editors:

1. The Prince Philip Designers Prize was first awarded in 1959 and aims to honour individuals whose careers represent a lifetime of achievement in design. Recent winners include Bill Hills, the engineering designer and director of the first Engineering Design Centre in the UK, BBC designer Martin Lambie-Nairn (1998) and James Dyson (1997). Finalists are nominated to the Design Council by professional organisations in design, industry and the arts, and judged by a panel chaired by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh.

2. Judges this year include Christopher Frayling, chairman of the Design Council, company director Hamish Bryce, graphic designer Lin Gibbon, theatre designer Tim O'Brien, and James Randle, former director of product and vehicle engineering at Jaguar.

3. The Design Council is the UK's national authority on design and works with partners in business, education and government to promote the best use of effective design. Its initiatives include Design in Business Week, running nationally from 27 October to 3 November.

4. For media inquiries, contact Jan Dekker on 020 7420 5269 (mobile 07968 009390), Steve Annett on 020 7420 5239 (mobile 0976 557880) or Nell Cozens on 020 7420 5273 (mobile 07803 945260.