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The E-Sylum: Volume 28, Number 33, 2025, Article 24

TIFFANY TO REDESIGN KENNEDY CENTER HONORS

In another break from tradition, the family that made Kennedy Center Honors medallions for 47 years is being replaced by Tiffany & Company. Thanks to Paul Horner for passing this along. Here's an excerpt from a Washington Post report. Shown below is James Baturin at work. -Editor

James Baturin working on Kennedy Center Honor For more than 47 years, a D.C.-area family has made the medals for the Kennedy Center Honors — gold-plated medallions outfitted with satin ribbons in rainbow colors and presented to luminaries including Al Pacino, Johnny Cash, Oprah Winfrey, Bruce Springsteen and the Grateful Dead.

James Baturin, an 86-year-old retired marking device manufacturer, said he, his wife, Mila, and their two kids assembled more than 255 awards — mostly from the kitchen countertop of their home in Bethesda, Maryland — since the Kennedy Center Honors began in 1978.

That relationship abruptly ended earlier this month, just days before President Donald Trump announced the first class of Kennedy Center honorees under his leadership of the arts complex, which will go to glam metal band Kiss, Broadway and West End star Michael Crawford, country music legend George Strait, actor Sylvester Stallone and singer Gloria Gaynor.

In a letter reviewed by The Washington Post, the Kennedy Center thanked the Baturins for their partnership and craftsmanship and said that the center would move in a different direction. "As the Kennedy Center looks toward the future and embarks on a new chapter, we will be transitioning to a new partnership for the creation of the Honors medallions," according to the letter, which was dated Aug. 6 and signed by Matthew Winer, then-senior director of Broadcast Media & Special Programs.

The letter did not elaborate on a new vision or vendor for the awards. As The Post reported Tuesday, the center has contacted the jeweler Tiffany & Company to redesign the medallion, which hasn't changed since it was designed for the first honors by New York artist Ivan Chermayeff. It is unclear what changes the center hopes to make to the medallions; Tiffany & Company and the Kennedy Center did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Each year, the Kennedy Center names five individuals or groups to honor for their lifelong contributions to the arts in a multiday event that concludes with a ceremony where fellow artists toast them with speeches, songs, videos and performances. The simple, elegant medallions presented to honorees include a necklace of rainbow ribbons decorated in the front by three 22.5-karat gold plates over top-grade engravers brass. One is inscribed with the words "Kennedy Center Honor," one with the date of the ceremony and one with the name of its respective honoree.

  Grateful Dead at the 2024 Kennedy Center Honors
The Grateful Dead at the 2024 Kennedy Center Honors

The medallion's rainbow ribbon is often mistaken for representing LGBTQ+ pride. Indeed, the rainbow flag debuted at the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade in 1978. But in the case of the medallion, the colors are meant to represent the "spectrum of many skills within the performing arts. Singing, dancing, and so on," designer Chermayeff told The Post in 2008.

They're hefty pieces of jewelry that stand out on a black tuxedo or dress, which Chermayeff said was intentional.

"They are a sizable thing, instead of a coin that sits on a desk," he said in 2008. "So they have a presence for the people who receive them."

Chermayeff, who died in 2017, also created the logotype for the Smithsonian Institution and the Library of Congress logo, which combined a book and flag.

To read the complete article, see:
Kennedy Center drops family that made Honors medallions for 47 years (https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/2025/08/15/kennedy-center-honors-medallions-change/)

See also:
Kennedy Center drops family that made Honors medallions for 47 years (https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/articles/kennedy-center-drops-family-made-230647780.html)



Wayne Homren, Editor

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