Albert Leclerc
is the ideal person to be the first
recipient of the IDM Personality Award.
A design graduate of the Institut des arts appliqués de Montréal,
Albert Leclerc received a scholarship from the French government to attend the
Paris Cours supérieur d'esthétique industrielle and a scholarship
from the former National Design Council of Canada to obtain a postgraduate certificate
from the Royal College of Art in London.
Author of many research articles and reports, frequent guest speaker, member
of many juries, recipient of many prestigious awards, Albert Leclerc was a member
of the Association des designers industriels du Québec (ADIQ) from 1985
to 1996 and belonged to the Société des designers d'intérieur
du Québec (SDIQ) from 1991 to 1996. He is a former member of the Board
of Directors of the Institute of Design Montreal. He is a member of the Royal
Canadian Academy of Arts since 1995.
For thirty years Albert Leclerc worked in Italy with such people as Gio Ponti
and Ettore Sottsass. This long foray abroad never prevented him from keeping
in touch with the Quebec design community.
In 1992, Université de Montréal entrusted him with guiding its
School of Industrial Design and with a mandate to polish the escutcheon of a
department that had been renowned for the quality of its program. After successfully
breathing new life into departmental activities, he set up different programs
for promoting the School and making it better known both in Quebec and abroad.
At the same time, his interest in research and development found expression in
his work in applied research. We underscore in particular his involvement in
research projects with Hydro-Québec and in the expansion of the pavilion
housing the Faculty of Environmental Design.
Every year since 1993, he has organized the international conferences program
with the most illustrious designers and architects as guest speakers. He was
also instrumental in setting up the School's permanent collection and participated
in the creation of the Prix Félix-Antoine Savard.
