This year’s captivating programme, sponsored by Clippings, took place in the Everyman Cinemas in King's Cross.
Visitors saw a slew of the industry’s leading thinkers discussing an eclectic range of topical trends & topics. We questioned: How should design react to some of the world’s most pressing problems?
10am - 10:45am
A panel of workplace experts – including designers, journalists and workplace scientists – unpick our current obsession with wellbeing and ask if it’s simply feng-shui for the new Millennium?
Speakers: Mark Eltringham: Founder of Workplace Insight; Rosamund Pomeroy: Workplace Scientist and Co-Founder of brainybirdz; Sevil Peach: Interior Architect; Michelle Wilkie: Director of TP Bennett
11am - 11:45am
The award-winning designer discusses her latest project with the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Sheep to Seat, Fleece to Floor, where she took fleeces from the sheep grazing in the park’s grounds and turned them into a variety of products that were then sold in the park’s shop. The project involved a host of manufacturing companies including Camira, Coakley & Cox and Alternative Flooring. The talk promises to touch on subjects such as sustainability and the importance of the circular economy.
Speakers: Ella Doran: Designer
12pm - 12:45pm
To celebrate the launch of their new monograph – written by Graeme Brooker, with forewords from Michael Marriott and Peter Higgins – Adam Brinkworth and Emma Wynn discuss the award-winning practice and chart how it has grown from a small workshop in East London into a globally renowned design and architecture studio, with clients ranging from Converse to All Saints.
Speakers: Chaired by Riya Patel; Curator at The Aram Gallery and Contributing Editor at ICON; Emma Wynn: Director at Brinkworth
1pm - 1:45pm
The first of two lunchtime talks hosted by interior design platform Clippings on trends impacting workplace design. The appetite for innovation in modern organisations and a generation that prizes freedom in their careers require new modes of working; these transient teams need spaces with the flexibility to group and re-group in ever-changing constellations. How will interior design answer the demands of today's hyper-flexible workforce?
Speakers: Speakers: Stuart Templeton: Senior Associate and Design Director at Gensler Architecture; Marius Thies: Trends Editor at Clippings; Elena de Kan: Design consultant at Steelcase; Neil Usher: Chief Workplace Officer at GoSpace
2pm - 2:45pm
A high powered panel including designer Ab Rogers of ARD, product designer James Rokos and Cambridge University researcher Helen Taylor discuss their dyslexia, looking at the impact it has had on their lives, their experience of the education system, and, ultimately, how it has enabled – rather than hindered – their careers.
Speakers: Ab Rogers: Interior Designer; James Rokos: Product Designer; Simone ten Hompel: Metal Artist; Helen Taylor: Researcher, Cambridge University; Kate MccGwire: Sculptor; Nadia-Anne Ricketts: Founder of BeatWoven
4pm - 4:45pm
King’s Cross has been transformed in recent years. This panel discussion, organised by Sleeper magazine, investigates the role hotels have played in regenerating the area. Speakers include: founder and CEO of Manhattan Loft Corporation Harry Handelsman and Bruce Robertson, managing director of The Standard London.
Speakers: Chaired by Catherine Martin, managing editor at Sleeper Media. Speakers include: Founder and CEO of Manhattan Loft Corporation Harry Handelsman; Bruce Robertson: Managing Director of The Standard London; Nick Searl: Partner at Argent LLP
10am - 10:45am
A panel discussion that looks at the future of British manufacturing, seeking to unpick the problems and the benefits of making things in this country and asking what role design can play, as well as pondering how technology is likely to disrupt the traditional model. Expect Brexit to be mentioned on at least one occasion.
Speakers: Matthew Hilton: furniture and product designer; Richard Blackwell: Executive Director, Bisley
11am - 11:45am
Organised in conjunction with Living Etc, this panel talk seeks to discover how new voices from diverse backgrounds can be encouraged into the design industry. It will include a combination of personal stories and policy ideas.
Speakers: Eva Sonaike: Designer; Kevin Green: Co-Founder, STORE STORE; Ella Ritchie: Director, Intoart, an art and design studio that works inclusively with people with learning difficulties; Peter Ting: Ceramic Designer & Creative Director of Thomas Goode
12pm - 12:45pm
A session of rapid fire presentations from recent graduates of Central Saint Martins, tying in with its show at the nearby Lethaby Gallery. What will the future of design look like? And what materials will we be using? Can design help society become both more sustainable and equitable?
Speakers: Chaired by William Knight, former Deputy Director, the London Design Festival. Speakers include: Mael Hanaff, Elissa Brunato, Benjamin Beaumoyal, Graysha Audren.
This Talk will be introduced by Professor Carole Collet, director CSM LVMH Sustainable Innovation and hosted by the former deputy director of the London Design Festival William Knight.
1pm - 1:45pm
The second lunchtime session hosted by interior design platform Clippings on trends impacting workplace design: amid stacks of research flagging the detrimental effects of open plan workspaces for both focus and collaboration, a corner office for every employee is simply not feasible. How will interior designers leverage the resulting new approaches to office specification and help clients turn the tide of a workforce hooked up to headphones?
Speakers: Jennifer Celesia: Senior Workplace Strategist EMEA at Haworth; Marius Thies: Trends Editor at Clippings; Daniel Heckscher: Interior Architect and Partner at Note Design Studio; Owen King: Director of Corporate Research at JLL UK
2pm - 2:45pm
Renowned architect, designer and educator Nigel Coates discusses how LGBTQ culture has fundamentally changed – and will continue to transform – the shape of our cities. With Isabel Allen, editor-in-chief of the new architecture title, Citizen.
Speakers: Nigel Coates: Architect, Designer & Educator; Isabel Allen: Editor-in-Chief, Citizen
3pm - 3:45pm
The production of data on urban environments is an important aspect of 21st century urban planning and architecture. This data represents potential new insights into habitation in increasingly dense cities. Gökhan Avcıoğlu of Istanbul based architecture practice GAD who has been a leader in computational design will present “smart city” strategies to optimise standards of living in urban contexts.
After Gokhan Avcioglu's presentation there will be discussion of Smart Cities with architecture critic Gökhan Karakuş.
Speakers: Gökhan Avcıoğlu: Global Architectural Development
4pm - 4:45pm
To celebrate their recent Phaidon monograph, leading designers Sam Hecht and Kim Colin of Industrial Facility discuss the studio’s history, which has encompassed an array of projects from office furniture for Herman Miller to a spray watering can for Muji via lights for Wastberg and, of course the brilliant Branca chair for Mattiazzi.
Speakers: Sam Hecht: Designer & Co-Founder of Industrial Facility, Industrial Facility; Kim Colin: Designer