SpiekermannPartners › Press release: Erik Spiekermann is made 'Honorary Royal Designer for Industry'

Erik Spiekermann is made 'Honorary Royal Designer for Industry'

Berlin, 3 December 2007 - The Berlin-based designer and typographer Erik Spiekermann has been awarded the prestigious title of ‘Honorary Royal Designer for Industry’ by the British Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce (RSA) for his achievements in graphic design. The awards ceremony took place in London on 29 November 2007.

The Royal Society of Arts was founded in 1754 with the aim to make a difference by encouraging and supporting innovation and creativity throughout society. Its dedicated and innovative projects and programmes are seen as exemplary throughout the world. The distinction ‘Royal Designer for Industry’ (RDI) is the highest accolade to be obtained in the UK in the field of industrial design. The award was set up in 1936 and is bestowed annually by the RSA to British designers who have achieved sustained excellence in aesthetic and efficient design for industry. In addition, the RSA confers the title of ‘Honorary Royal Designer for Industry’ (HonRDI) upon a limited number of distinguished international designers. Erik Spiekermann HonRDI finds himself in good company: among the designers thus honoured by the RSA over recent years are global stars such as the interior designer Mario Belline, the product designer Ettore Sottsass, the shoe designer Manolo Blahnik, the lighting designer Ingo Maurer, the fashion designers Yohji Yamamoto and Issey Miyake, industrial designer Dieter Rams and the illustrator Jean Jacques Sempé.

Erik Spiekermann is author, information designer and typographer. He founded MetaDesign and FontShop, is Honorary Professor at the University of the Arts in Bremen and has an honorary doctorship from Pasadena Art Center. In 2004 he received the Gerrit-Noordzij-Prize from the Royal Academy in The Hague. The family of typefaces he designed for Deutsche Bahn (German Railways) was awarded the 2007 Design Award of the German Federal Republic.

SpiekermannPartners is an agency for design and branding, run by Erik Spiekermann, Susanna Dulkinys, Fabian Rottke, Marianne Schuler and Ralf Weißmantel. With offices in Berlin, London and San Francisco they work for international clients like Bosch, German Railways, Birkhäuser Publishers, Messe Frankfurt, Pioneer Investments, Berliner Philharmoniker and ZDF (German TV) on branding strategy, corporate_design systems, editorial layouts and exclusive typefaces.

PR Contact:
Achim Klapp, Presse- und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit | SpiekermannPartners
T +49.30.257 97 016
[email protected]
Friedrichstraße 126 | D-10117 Berlin
www.spiekermannpartners.com