Past Master and junior warden given Lifetime Achievement Award

Past Master Dids Macdonald OBE and current junior warden Jessica Alexander have both been honoured with the Interiors Monthly Lifetime Achievement Award in 2024.

Interiors Monthly was established in 2007, the magazine for the furniture and flooring, retail buyers is now seen as a leading magazine in the furniture and flooring sector.

The magazine’s awards were announced in its August 2024 issue.

Dids said, “Thank you so much for this prestigious award, I am honoured. It’s funny how life has its mysterious shifts and turns. Little did I know that when our own designs were copied so shamelessly over three decades ago, it would lead me on a different career path in life. We have some of the best and most innovative designers in the UK but, sadly, the insidious copycat culture is still a huge challenge impeding growth, costing precious resource to enforce, and causing untold stress. It has been a pleasure to work in this amazing sector for the past three decades”.

Interiors Monthly editor Andrew Kidd said: “This award reflects the considerable work Dids has undertaken done to promote and strengthening the UK’s IP industry for almost three decades, in particular her foundation of ACID and steering it to the central position it has today. And this is not to mention her involvement of The Furniture Makers Company”.

Jessica said: “I am honoured to be singled out by Interiors Monthly for a lifetime achievement award this year. Thank you. My career in the furniture industry- and more specifically the bed industry – has been a wonderful journey over the past 40 plus years. I am pleased to have been able to make a difference.”

Andrew said: “Jessica has been the face of the bed industry for a long time and in that time has certainly made her mark. She has overseen a raft of policies and initiatives – from creating National Bed Month back in 1990, to setting up and running the Sleep Council for 25 years, to introducing the Bed Show, the NBF Code of Practice, the NBF Pledge for our Planet and mattress ecodesign and much more – that have set the course for years to come and transformed how the industry operates. And even now her passion and dedication to the industry continues as she directs her energy into supporting the charitable goals of The Furniture Makers’ Company.