Brit Awards trophy designer ‘proud’ to have designed gong for home city ceremony

The designer of next year’s Brit Awards trophy has said he is “proud” to have designed the gong for the awards ceremony in his home city of Manchester.

Designer Matthew Williamson has been inspired by his Manchester roots and the golden honey of the city’s worker bee mascot for the trophy, which features an amber figure atop a globe, representing the worldwide reach of British music.

Speaking about being chosen to design the award, which will be given out at the Co-Op Live venue on February 28, Williamson told the PA news agency: “It means a huge amount, personally, it means a lot, professionally, it means a lot.

“I think overall, I’m just really honoured to be in this position, I feel it’s quite a weighty project, and I’m fully aware of the designers that have gone before me, these icons of design, so I’m carrying quite a sort of heavy torch, so to speak, but very proud.

“Personally, I’m from Manchester, I love everything about the city, so it has an extra resonance, because it’s going to be here, it’s a real milestone moment.”

Williamson, who has worked in fashion, home and lifestyle design, said his family watched the awards ceremony every year when he was growing up.

The 54-year-old added: “I remember watching it and feeling that I probably shouldn’t be watching it, so I was pretty young.

“I remember it being a little bit spicy at times, and my parents were quite liberal parents, but it was a little past the watershed and all of that, so I don’t know, (I was watching it) early probably (as a) teenager, slightly earlier.

“That was many moons ago, but I still watch it now, and I’m going to be watching it with my daughter next year, so it feels like a full circle moment in so many ways.”

Williamson, who saw one of his runway designs incorporated into the video for Prince’s 2007 single Chelsea Rodgers, said he was mindful to respect the trophy’s original design when creating its new version.

He added: “There was a certain understanding that this is the trophy, we want to keep the silhouette, the structure, so they don’t want us to turn it into a different form, because then it wouldn’t be a Brit Award.

“I think that was central to the project, respect what’s there, and be like the Oscars, you kind of want to see that mask, you don’t really want to see something else.”

The 2026 Brit Awards ceremony will be the first time the event has been held outside of London.

Its trophy has previously been designed by the likes of Dame Vivienne Westwood, Sir Peter Blake and Dame Tracey Emin.