Paul Solomons
Creative Director, British GQ and GQ Style Magazine
The Condé Nast Publications
Paul Solomons, 46, studied at The Mid Glamorgan school of art and design in South Wales before graduating with a BA honours degree in graphic design at Nottingham Trent University.
His work was spotted at the New Designers exhibition following this by the then publishing house, EMAP.
He joined EMAP’s Bike magazine for one year before becoming a designer at Marie Claire magazine in 1998.
From Marie Claire he then moved to the Condé Nast title Tatler becoming the deputy art director in 2001 before moving on to British GQ.
He chose to apply for the role of designer to gain a place at the men’s lifestyle magazine. ‘Truthfully, I realised that I didn’t know just as much as I thought I knew and that I wasn’t ready for a senior role which is why I was prepared to drop a few positions to learn from the very best’.
During his time at GQ he rose through the positions to become the brand’s creative director in 2004, winning numerous awards along the way and overseeing the original transition from print to digital.
Solomons still credits his time working at a magazine printing press in his home town in South Wales as an equally important part of his trajectory.
‘It was to help pay for my studies’ he says, “But it did more than that.
It was where my love for printed media and the industry grew.
It also gave me enormous respect for the chain of production.’
Judging these awards has been absolute thrill for me. There are so many incredibly talented entries and I have been inspired by many of them.