NOMINEES ANNOUNCED FOR LAND ROVER BORN AWARDS 2017

21 July 2017

Creators from around the world will come together in July to celebrate design excellence in all its forms after the nominees for the 2017 Land Rover BORN Awards were announced.

  • Land Rover BORN Awards celebrate creators of beautiful products that can change the way we live
  • Jury recognizes 38 nominees for their design excellence under the 2017 theme of 'reductionism'
  • New Range Rover Velar exemplifies ‘reductionism’ with its clean, elegant lines
  • 18 finalists will be announced on July 26 in Norway where creativity meets business: new BORN Conversations summit to share ideas
  • BORN is a market network helping to foster creative leadership

(LONDON, U.K.) – July 21, 2017 ‑ Creators from around the world will come together in July to celebrate design excellence in all its forms after the nominees for the 2017 Land Rover BORN Awards were announced.

The 38 nominees all represent the combination of beauty and functionality that BORN and Land Rover champion. They came through a rigorous selection process that began with 5,925 candidates from 130 countries.

The jury will consider elegant, beautiful objects encompassing furniture, travel, architecture, technology and more. Gerry McGovern, Land Rover Chief Design Officer, and Jean‑Christophe Chopin, founder and CEO of BORN, co‑chair the jury with a stellar cast of international creative personalities.

The 38 nominees will be reduced to 18 for the exhibition in Ålesund, Norway, to take place between July 16 and August 5. The Awards ceremony will be held on July 26.

This year’s Land Rover BORN Awards theme of ‘reductionism’ is embodied in the new Range Rover Velar, with its elegant, technologically rich form.

Gerry McGovern, Land Rover Chief Design Officer, said, “Design is the conduit that communicates our brand vision. We aim to create vehicle designs that are compelling, relevant and emotionally charged.”

“The nominees for the 2017 Land Rover BORN Awards are experts in their respective disciplines and, like Land Rover, champion creativity to inspire and delight.”

Jean‑Christophe Chopin, founder and CEO of BORN, said, “Truly sublime creativity and design must be beautiful but also practical; it must be elevating but it must also serve a purpose. I founded BORN to spread this philosophy and between them, these nominees embody the values BORN seeks to uphold.”

BORN is a market network to foster creative leadership. Exciting creators can showcase their new products, their profiles, their brands and their teams. It puts creators directly in touch with design enthusiasts and fellow industry professionals, allowing them to make connections in a similar fashion to a virtual trade fair. The only requirement is that the designs are innovative, desirable, sustainable and relevant.

The BORN platform helps small, medium and large brands generate online awareness for their new creations worldwide. It then connects the creators with professionals and consumers to finance their latest creations.

Once showcased on BORN, creators are entered into the Land Rover BORN Awards. Whether a new or established brand, BORN can provide the impetus for both business and creative development.

New to the 2017 Awards is the BORN Conversations summit. Conceived by Jean‑Christophe Chopin in collaboration with Christophe Amenc and Thierry Malleret, co‑founders of the Summit of Minds conference, it takes place in parallel to the Awards in Norway. The summit will offer a platform for discussion and sharing ideas. It will focus on the intersection of creativity and business, and the difficulties of balancing the two.

The collaboration between BORN and Land Rover is founded on mutual respect for the importance of design in changing the world and shared belief in the principles of innovation, creativity and beauty. At Milan Design Week in April, BORN partnered with Land Rover to exhibit eight of the most exciting designs featured on the network alongside the Range Rover Velar, and as with the 2016 Awards, the trophy has been designed by Land Rover’s design team.

Further information

About Land Rover

Founded in 1948, Land Rover designs, engineers, and manufactures its vehicles in the United Kingdom. For almost 70 years the brand has built a reputation for providing its clientele with some of the most luxurious and capable vehicles in the world; whether driving through the heart of the city or traversing the countryside on‑ and off‑road. Today's Land Rover lineup includes the Discovery and Discovery Sport; Range Rover, Range Rover Sport, Range Rover Velar and Range Rover Evoque. Land Rover is fully engaged with sustainability initiatives and social concerns with continuous involvement in environmental and community programs. For more information, visit the official Land Rover website at www.landroverusa.com.

About Jaguar Land Rover

Jaguar Land Rover is the UK’s largest automotive manufacturer, built around two iconic British car brands: Land Rover, the world’s leading manufacturer of premium all‑wheel‑drive vehicles; and Jaguar, one of the world’s premier luxury sports sedan and sports car marques.

The company employs over 40,000 people globally, with 330 in the U.S. and supports around 275,000 more through our dealerships, suppliers and local businesses. Manufacturing is centered in the UK, with additional plants in China, Brazil, India and Slovakia.

At Jaguar Land Rover we are driven by a desire to create class‑leading products that deliver great customer experiences. The largest investor in R&D in the UK manufacturing sector, we have invested £12 billion (USD$15.7 billion) in the last five years and in the current year alone will spend over £3.5 billion (USD$4.5 billion) on new product creation and capital expenditure. Last year Jaguar Land Rover sold over 583,000 vehicles in 136 countries, with nearly 80 percent of our vehicles produced in the UK being sold abroad.