Speakers
John Thackara
Collaborative innovation is the way to create a one planet economy, but it needs to be organised.
John Thackara is renowned internationally for his work as director of the design innovation network, Doors of Perception. Doors creates projects and festivals in which paradigm changing designers, together with grassroots innovators and citizens, develop new services and products for daily life.
As director of Doors of Perception, John Thackara is involved with setting up projects in which citizens, designers, and grassroots innovators explore two questions;
1. What might life in a sustainable world be like?
2. What design steps are needed to get us from here, to there?
Currently he is programme director of Designs of the time (Dott 07) in England, and commissioner of an event called Tools for Survival at the St Etienne Design Biennial in France, in November. Recent clients included a major airport, Europe’s high-speed train network, the Hong Kong administration, the University of Amsterdam, the regional development agency One North East, and a top five global logistics company.
Text courtesy of http://www.thackara.com/
Sheila Levrant de Bretteville
My thoughts move toward ways of making that provide models for inclusion… how I can bring those at the periphery into public view.
Sheila Levrant de Bretteville is a graphic designer, artist and educator whose work reflects her belief in the importance of feminist principles, user participation in graphic design, and diverse local community issues. Since 1990 she has been the director of the Yale University Graduate Program in Graphic Design, one of the oldest and most important design programs in the country.
Sheila has developed a practice that encompasses print graphics and site specific installation.She was trained in art history at Barnard, the all women’s college of Columbia University, and at Yale University’s School of Art where she became the first woman to be tenured Professor in 1990.
Over more than two decades her work has taken the form of increasingly open ended gestures at the intersection of public and private that attempt to give form to democratic pluralism by inviting viewers and passers-by to participate in the signification of the work.
Sheila and her cross disciplinary work has been recognized by art journals, books, organizations and institutions as well as architecture and design journals, book organizations and institutions here and abroad.
Text courtesy of http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/medalist-sheilalevrantdebretteville
Karen Blincoe
Designer, educationalist and environmentalist, Karen Blincoe has held various executive and honorary positions nationally and internationally in the fields of design and education.
She has a long standing executive role with Icograda (The International Council of Graphic Design Associations) and has been appointed visiting professor at the Faculty of Design & Architecture at University of Brighton, UK. Karen was appointed head of department for Visual Communication at Danmarks Designskole, Copenhagen in 1991 and has been a member of the Arts Council. She is a Fellow of the CSD; and also a member of the Association of Danish Designers.
She is currently the Director of the Schumacher College, Dartington, UK. As Director she is primarily engaged with leading and supporting the staff team and attending to her role as part of the management team. She is developing future plans for the college including new initiatives and educational programmes in collaboration with the college staff. This involves fostering new partnerships, researching different target groups as well as developing fund-raising opportunities.
Karen is also the Founder of ICIS, The International Centre for Creativity, Innovation and Sustainability. Established in Denmark in 2001, it focuses on Continuing Professional Development for designers and architects in sustainability and innovation.
Text courtesy of: www.schumachercollege.org.uk/staff/karen-blincoe
Mervyn Kurlansky
Mervyn Kurlansky was born in South Africa in 1936. He trained in London at the Central School of Art and Design then freelanced before becoming graphics director of Planning Unit, the design consultancy service of Knoll International.
In 1969 he joined Crosby/Fletcher/Forbes and in 1972 co-founded Pentagram from which he resigned in 1993 to live and work in Denmark.
His clients have included multinational corporations, cultural establishments and educational institutions throughout the world. He has won a number of important awards, including a bronze medal from the Brno Biennale of Graphic Design, a gold award from the Package Designers Council, silver awards from the Designers and Art Directors Association, a silver award from the New York Art Directors Club, a gold award from Japan’s Minister of Trade and Industry, the Gustav Klimt prize 1995 and the Danish IG design prize 1996.
His work is in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York and has been featured in several publications and exhibitions worldwide. He conceived and designed the book Watching My Name Go By, a documentation of New York’s colourful graffiti, and Masters of the 20th Century, which celebrates the work of the 110 speakers of the Icograda London Design Seminars 1974 to 1999 of which he was chairman for the final three years. He was also a co-author of four books about Pentagram.
Text courtesy of: http://www.a-g-i.org/magazine/dialogue_detail.php?id=22
Rupert Bassett and Lynne Elvins
A420 is an exploratory unit formed by Rupert Bassett and Lynne Elvins to provide the design industry with a systematic way to navigate the complex subject of sustainability.
“We believe the design industry is in a uniquely powerful position to create a more sustainable future for everyone and that every designer has the potential to produce more sustainable design with every project they tackle.”
Lynne trained in design management whilst working for the Centre for Sustainable Design and wrote a final paper entitled Can Green Products be Sexy? She then spent nearly five years working for John Elkington’s sustainable business consultancy, SustainAbility, specialising in internet reporting and how companies and activists communicate sustainability issues using websites. As an independent consultant she has worked with the Design Council, co-authored a report on the marketing of green goods for the Japanese DTI and written a white paper on communicating sustainability online for the digital branding company View.
Rupert and Lynne have lectured on sustainable design and design management at the College of the Creative Arts in Farnham, Bath School of Art & Design, Cranfield University, Kingston University and the Royal College of Art.
Lynne is currently a regional design adviser for the South West Design Programme.
Rupert is a part time Graphic Communication lecturer at Bath School of Art & Design.