Take your mind back to 2019, a pre-Covid world where festivals could happen. It’s Glastonbury and Stormzy is about to make history as the first black solo British headliner on the Pyramid stage. What is he wearing? A stab-proof vest designed by British street artist, Banksy.
The performance was iconic in numerous ways, but the unexpected partnership between two British renowned Artists’ in their own right had the nation talking. The vest is now one of 74 nominees up for the Beazley Designs of the year prize that will be hosted by the Design Museum in Kensington.
The museum’s director, Tim Marlow commented, “This year’s exhibition explores key moments in design from January 2019 to the moment global attention shifted in late January 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic took hold — the selected projects respond to urgent questions of inequality and censorship, health and sanitisation, and the ongoing possibilities of design and technology.”
Banksy’s art is up against other innovative designs, like a self-sanitising door handle and memorial for a glacier melted by climate change- both reflections of the world we now live in. The winner will be announced on November 26th and the exhibition runs until March 28th 2021.
