London Design Festival 2022 recognizes the best impact-making designers as the winners, stay tuned to know the list of London Design Festival winners.
Held on (17–25 September 2022), the London Design Festival 2022 rewards some of the best talents including Sandy Powell, architect Indy Johar, researcher Joycelyn Longdon and photographer Sir Don McCullin.
The judges included Jay Osgerby, Domenic Lippa, Wallpaper* editor-in-chief Sarah Douglas, Justine Simons, Sir John Sorrell, Vicky Broackes, and Jane Withers.
The 2022 Awards highlight the sometimes underappreciated field of costume design, investigate how design can influence our worldview, and shed light on how to reimagine the institutional and bureaucratic framework of our cities as well as how we discuss climate change.
These are the winners of the London Design Festival:
- London Design Medal – Sandy Powell
- Emerging Design Medal – Joycelyn Longdon
- Design Innovation Medal – Indy Johar
- Lifetime Achievement Medal – Sir Don McCullin
London Design Medal – Sandy Powell

- About: Powell, who was born in 1960, was raised in south London. Her mother taught her to sew on a Singer sewing machine, and Powell started experimenting with cutting and altering patterns at a young age. Powell’s professional breakthrough occurred when the stage and film director Derek Jarman hired her as the costume designer for his 1986 picture Caravaggio.
- Work: Oscar and Bafta-winning costumes from The Favourite, The Young Victoria, Velvet Goldmine, Shakespeare in Love, and The Aviator were created by renowned costume designer Sandy Powell. In her four decades in the business, Powell has collaborated on more than 50 projects with more than 20 filmmakers.
“In the film industry, awards are given to those who worked on the best projects that year. Although the recognition of my work is greatly appreciated, the London Design Medal is more thrilling because it honors all designers, not just me and other costume designers. This is a tremendous honor.” she says.
Emerging Design Medal – Joycelyn Longdon

- About: A 24-year-old Ph.D. candidate at Cambridge University who is enrolled in the AI4ER program (Artificial Intelligence For Environmental Risk). In order to better understand how technology may be used to conserve forests, her Ph.D. research will adopt an interdisciplinary approach, combining Machine Learning (ML), Bioacoustics, Forest Ecology, and the list goes on.
- Work: she is the creator of ClimateInColour, an online community and learning resource for those interested in the environment that aims to increase the diversity and accessibility of climate conversation. Since April 2020, the website has expanded and has partnered with a variety of businesses, including Estée Lauder, Samsung, and Oxford University. Joycelyn was given the CCI Knowledge Exchange Studentship in 2021.
“I’m drawn to working on problems that are affecting those who live closest to nature but are going to be the most vulnerable to it. If technology is going to play a bigger part in conservation” she says.
Design Innovation Medal – Indy Johar

- About: Indy Johar is a co-founder of Dark Matter Labs and 00 as well as an architect. He has also supported numerous 00 studies and experiments, such as the wikihouse.cc, and co-led research initiatives like The Compendium for the Civic Economy. Johar serves as a non-executive director at Bloxhub and the WikiHouse Foundation.
- Work: To create the institutional frameworks for radical civic societies, cities, regions, and towns, he developed Dark Matter Labs, a field laboratory. Dark Matter Labs is a design firm that focuses less on physical structures and more on the systems, institutions, and laws that either support or obstruct them.
“The majority of the environment we live in will need to be reinvented at this time. Design is a synthesis act, thus I believe it will be crucial to understanding how the material, social, and institutional spheres interact. I notice the discipline advancing”, he mentions.
Lifetime Achievement Medal – Sir Don McCullin

- About: British photojournalist Sir Donald McCullin CBE is well known for his photos of urban unrest and his war photography. Since the beginning of his work in 1959, he has focused on capturing the underside of society through images that show the unemployed, oppressed, and poor. His first experience with combat was in Cyprus in 1964, where he documented the armed eruption of racial and nationalist strife and was recognized with a World Press Photo Award.
- Work: McCullin has created the way we view the world for the past 60 years. It takes a keen eye and a hot shoe, boldness and audacity, instinct and curiosity to define global events, arouse debate, shape opinions, and polarise minds. He has collaborated on projects for The White Album, Blowup, the Sunday Times Magazine, and Observer. For his essay on the erection of the Berlin Wall, he received the British Press Award in 1961.
“You are innovative in everything you do with the camera. It can be a deadly weapon that delivers unpleasant realities, yet it can also deliver upbeat tales. I always made careful to act calmly no matter what. I took a camera instead of a firearm.” he said.