Last Friday I had a chance to visit London Design Festival and after last year’s good timing and awesome events my expectations were rather high. And truthfully, this time was different: horrible weather, bad ankle resulting in limping, and not many great inspirational moments.
I don’t wish to go on about everything I saw, but to pick out some of the memorable bits (you can also check more photos on my Flickr page):
A dark room with cabinets displaying objects, all pure white. Next to the cabinets, stories related to the objects building a saga of a fictional mixed background family. (I Cling to Virtue at V&A)
Miniature design doll house, magical, it can hold your gaze for hours.
The printed guide had no maps! You can stuff pages with advertising but not bother with a map. Pffft.
Stumbling through a door way into Anti Design Festival headquarters, and managing to get a free ticket to the afternoon talk Renewal & Strategy to Destroy and Rebuild featuring designer celebrities and their pals and some interesting artists.
“There’s no such thing as grown ups, we’re just winging it because we have to.”
– Gerald Laing
Adrian Shaugnessy getting excited about magical Wales and praising young designers’ will to do social design projects instead of clamoring to be the next Neville Brody…
Shaugnessy’s realistic insights – we all need to make a living but it’s not an excuse to do something different either.
Peter Kennard’s vivid reminders of the simple power of image. His Cafe of Equivalents is a truly inspiring project: it made people rethink the value of money and the value of their earnings, and provided a space for discussion. A project worth looking up.
“The middle is not a great place to be” – Stuart Semple on the danger of the homogeneous middle
Barnbrook’s shifty nature not being allowed to talk about his work – felt like he was talking to students – again.
Brody being ripped into with criticism about “all talk no action plan” by a gentleman, watching Brody slither around responses.
Anti Design Festival space showing work by maestros and students alike, side by side on the walls without captions – interesting.
Hel Yes! warehouse converted into a hangout/ café/ restaurant/ discussion space, Finnish brunch to warm my soul, free coffee, use of wood branches to create tables connecting us back into nature.
Ok Do! talk Borderlands highlighting increased collaboration with co-creators and resource providers. “Friendship as an important catalyst for collaboration” – still resonates strongly within me, like a warm fuzzy feeling that tells me there is truth in those words.
Spotting parallels and common themes that have been popping up in recent workshops and events I have attended:
- the need to embrace and explore collaboration and co-creation
- engaging with society and the citizens living in it – inclusive design
- the title “designer” losing its gravity and significance: we fall under different roles more and more
- embracing technology to create future possibilities for participation, freedom of speech, debate, co-creation and strengthening networks for knowledge sharing
That’s it folks, tried to keep this short and hopefully shared some interesting observations. Please do share comments and thoughts.
Observation lounge 
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