iCandy wins the Queen’s Award For Enterprise in International Trade
Today marks the 90th birthday of her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth II, who has now been the British Monarch for an incredible 64 years, surpassing the record set by her Great-Great Grandmother Queen Victoria.
During her lifetime and period on the Throne, the Queen has lived through many changes and social upheavals. From taking over the Throne with incumbent British Hero Winston Churchill as Prime Minister in 1952, to appointing David Cameron as Prime Minister today, The Queen continues to adapt to the changing culture of both politics and technology. The Queen has seen the birth of black and white TV blossom into fully realised colour, and experienced the rising power of the internet, not to mention iCandy’s creation of their first multi-configuration single to double pushchair within a single footprint, the Apple 2 Pear.
The way we communicate and interact with the world has changed immensely over the Queens lifetime, yet she remains a popular public figure, always happy to embrace new technology and remain relevant to her Subjects. In celebration of this incredible milestone, there will be street parties, along with musical guests such as Kylie Minogue to celebrate the Queens momentous birthday. You can find information regarding the celebrations on the following link.
What’s more, the Queen’s birthday also coincides with a very special announcement of our own, courtesy of the Royal Family at Buckingham Palace. We are delighted to announce that Her Majesty The Queen has been graciously pleased to approve the Prime Minister, Mr. David Cameron’s recommendation that iCandy should receive a Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade this year. This award for Enterprise is the UK’s most prestigious award for business performance. It is a huge honour for everyone here at iCandy to win the award, underlining our status as one of Britain’s leading companies.
We are extremely excited to welcome Her Majesty The Queen’s representative the Lord Lieutenant to iCandy World’s Headquarters. The Lord Lieutenant will visit iCandy and present us with a commemorative engraved crystal bowl in acknowledgement of the achievement.
Furthermore, our two Joint CEO’s, brothers Bradley and Warren Appel, who play a large part in the day to day running of the company, can now look forward to attending the Queen’s reception at Buckingham Palace on Thursday 14th July 2016.
Starting out in London in 1933, our precision manufacturing journey has helped lead us to crafting the definitive luxury pushchair. The iCandy Peach is our flagship model, and represents the very best of British design and quality engineering that is built to last. Designed and engineered to deliver a genuinely bespoke driving experience that draws on our rich British heritage, this pushchair sets a whole new standard in the ultra-high luxury pushchair class. Whilst the quality and innovation of the Peach is one of the fundamental reasons for the distinction of a Queens Award, all of our products are responsible for achieving such recognition. From our lightweight option of the iCandy Raspberry, to the multifunctional nature of the iCandy Strawberry, the Queens Award is a reflection of iCandy’s ever growing popularity.
The entire team at iCandy World feel privileged to be recognised with a Queens Award. It is a testament to the entire business and the hard work that goes on all year round to deliver innovative products, which truly represent the best of British design and engineering. To be deemed worthy of recommendation for a Queens Award by the Prime Minister, and then graciously approved by Her Majesty the Queen is the greatest honour for us. We are extremely proud of our British Heritage and always remain keen to ensure we don’t lose our roots as a family run British business, one which promotes the excellence of British craftsmanship around the world.
“This is the achievement of our quite extraordinary team at iCandy, both here in the UK and within our iCandy China operation” says iCandy Joint CEO Bradley Appel. “Since our establishment in London 83 years ago we have employed thousands of staff. Today some of our current iCandy Team have been with us as long as almost 40 years and a few have only started with us just this year. They are all individually the most talented and dedicated team who are all truly industry experts and leaders in their various roles. My brother Warren and I could not be more proud of everything they achieve and know that without them it would not have been possible to achieve over 30 patents worldwide and 8 design registrations to date that truly separate iCandy from the rest of the field. We are immensely proud that iCandy’s creation of the iCandy's first single-footprint double pushchair took Britain by storm and that our British design and innovation has been recognised in the 33 countries that iCandy is currently sold. We are confident that the endorsement of the Queen’s Award can only assist iCandy’s commitment and will give our worldwide customers even more confidence in building long term relationships based on trust and respect.”