The 48th Kennedy Center Honors’ medallions have been unveiled. For the first time since 1978, the medals have a significant redesign with a new creator at the helm.
Tiffany & Co. have funded and reimagined the awards, which will now feature a navy-blue strap holding a gold disc with a sketch of the Kennedy Center building surrounded by rainbow colors. The reverse side will have the name of the honorees and the date of the ceremony.
The center wrote in a news release that Tiffany & Co. is its “ideal collaborator” for these medals because of the company’s “defining role in American luxury culture for nearly two centuries.”
The new partnership comes after President Donald Trump’s overhaul of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts board, appointing himself as chair, earlier this year.
The Baturin family, owners of The Baumgarten Company, known as “America’s Rubber Stamp Factory,” had been making the awards for decades.
It was James “Jimmy” Baturin who created the first design of the medallions, including the rainbow ribbon strap and gold name plate the awards were known for.
Baturin told WTOP earlier this year that the new collaboration is disheartening.
“I could cry over it, but that isn’t going to do any good,” he said.
The 48th annual Kennedy Center Honors will award George Strait, rock band KISS, Michael Crawford, Gloria Gaynor and Sylvester Stallone on Sunday. The ceremony will air on CBS and stream on Paramount+ on Dec. 23 at 8 p.m.
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