Yinka Ilori’s diamond-infused Fashion Awards 2022 trophy design unveiled

British-Nigerian designer Yinka Ilori – whose his first solo display at London's Design Museum, ‘Yinka Ilori: Parables of Happiness’, opened earlier this year – has designed the trophies for The Fashion Award 2022, taking place on Monday 5 December 2022 at the Royal Albert Hall.

The trophies, made up of varying lengths of glass rods, were made in collaboration with environmentally friendly jeweller Skydiamond and The Glass Foundry (each award was created at the Cotswolds glass studio in a collaboration arranged by the British Fashion Council). Organised in a nine-by-nine configuration, the miniature statues remain faithful to Ilori’s vivid design work by putting colour first. 

‘I wanted to tell a story about fashion – and how powerful it is,’ says Ilori, the trophy designed to be symbolic of the collaborative nature of fashion, with each multi- speer representing the ‘many creative roles within the fashion industry’. ‘The trophy represents the energy and synergy between designers and celebrates a sense of togetherness,’ he continues.

Yinka Ilori’s trophy for The Fashion Awards 2022 revealed

The collaboration with Skydiamond introduces a diamond to each of the awards. Founded by entrepreneur and environmentalist Dale Vince, Skydiamond doesn't mine but generates diamonds – its diamonds are made sustainably from excess carbon drawn from the Earth’s atmosphere and in their production use sustainable wind and solar energy. This results in carbon-negative diamonds, ‘mined from the sky to protect the Earth’. (See more options for man-made diamond jewellery.)

‘Skydiamonds are the rarest diamonds on the planet, making the trophies even more unique,’ says Vince. 

The fruits of Yinka Ilori, Skydiamond and The Glass Foundry’s work will – as Ilori hopes – serve as ‘a celebration of the designers who acknowledge and honour their individualism and heritage’.

fashionawards.com