The first Blueprint Sessions were held in February 2004 at the Royal Society
of Arts, London. At least 200 people joined each debate, with around 800
turning up to hear the announcement of the winners at a fantastic party at
the 291 Gallery in London’s East End.
Chaired by Charlie Luxton, this was undoubtedly the most controversial debate of the Sessions. Nominees were Zaha
Hadid, supported by Rowan Moore; Herzog & de Meuron, represented by Jeremy Melvin; and David Adjaye represented
by Lucy Bullivant.
It became clear that architecture still has the power to arouse powerful emotion - one member of the audience became almost tearful when a panel member questioned Zaha Hadid’s significance.
She had no reason to worry though, as the eventual winner - decided by popular vote (as with all the Blueprint Sessions) - was Zaha Hadid. Her business partner Patrick Schumacher collected the trophy at the party.
A diverse range of designers were nominated in this category: Stephen Fry argued for Jonathan Ive; Carl Clerkin and
William Warren advocated Tord Boontje; and Louise-Anne Comeau argued for Marcel Wanders (Wanders had been keen
to represent himself, but under The Blueprint Sessions rules, this was not allowed).
Fry put forward the ‘stiffy’ test as a way of judging if a product is truly beautiful, sexy and capable of evoking the lust
that brings commercial success. It seemed that Ive’s Apple iPod certainly won over the audience and the Apple team
was duly awarded the gong.
When a client stands up and advocates his designer, you know they must be good. This was the case when Selfridges’
Martin Illingworth advocated Eldridge Smerin for its work on the Birmingham department store. Also up for debate was Jump, represented by Joe Kerr and French designer Matali Crasset, represented by Gareth Williams.
At the end of the night the audience voted for Jump, impressed by its exhibition work for Levi’s, and having been won over
by Kerr’s argument that powerful design does not have to last for 1,000 years.
An edgy debate ensued when members of the audience questioned the legitimacy of The Blueprint Sessions, and whether
it was possible to compare such different designers. Up for the award were Elliot Earls, supported by Rick Poynor; Laurent Fetis, represented by Teal Triggs; and MadeThought, with its case put forward by Ed Barber.
Peter Anderson was in the chair, and the eventual winner was MadeThought, commended for its redesign of Graphic magazine.
