Lecture Series: 15th April to 23rd May
Our unique series of lectures, in partnership with London’s Design Museum, brings together the most revered international designers – from Vivienne Westwood to Ross Lovegrove – to explore what makes certain products and designers the leaders in their fields.
For further information and to book your place as these superb events, please visit www.designmuseum.org. Please note that only a select number of tickets are available for each lecture.
Full videos of each lecture will be available from this site 24 hours after each event.
Got something on the tip of your tongue? We will be selecting one design-related question submitted via this site to ask the speakers at each event.
Simply click on your preferred lecture below, sign-in or register and submit a question of your choice to be asked at the related event. Registering with Design Icons automatically enters you into our fantastic prize draw (see the competition page for more details).
What Makes a Design Iconic?
Tuesday 15th April 2008
Speakers: Matteo Alessi, Roland Mouret, former Editorial Director of icon magazine Aidan Walker, and Deyan Sudjic, Director of the Design Museum in London
Individual icons in their respective trades, this illustrious and learned panel offer an insight into their personal experiences and consider the journeys their iconic ideas have travelled.Launching the programme, this lecture poses the question: What makes a design iconic? Panel members discuss what they consider to be iconic designs, and deliver a general discussion about the impact and importance such items have in our lives.
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Building an Icon
Friday 25th April 2008
Speaker: Alastair Lansley, Chief Architect of St Pancras International
When it first opened in 1868, St Pancras Station was heralded as a wonder of its age. Alastair Lansley, chief architect of St Pancras International, will talk about the design development process that has magnificently transformed this long-neglected example of iconic architecture and engineering. A highly-acclaimed development, Europe’s new destination station has been described by Lansley himself as the eighth wonder of the world.
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Active Resistance to Propaganda: A new approach to the world
Friday 2nd May, 7.15pm
Speaker: Vivienne Westwood
Design legend Dame Vivienne Westwood presents her revolutionary manifesto ‘Active Resistance to Propaganda’. This is an opportunity to hear Westwood express her ideas about the need to return to universal human values at the core of great art, followed by a question and answer session between Dame Vivienne and the audience about her manifesto to generate open discussion and debate.
Tickets cost £15. For further information and to book your place, please visit www.designmuseum.org.
Submit a question for this lecture
Ross Lovegrove
Friday 9th May 2008
Speaker: Ross Lovegrove
Internationally-recognised industrial designer Ross Lovegrove combines manufacturing innovations with a visionary flair to make products which are environmentally friendly with a sleek and organic aesthetic. He is a pragmatic designer known for the first Sony Walkman and the Louvre’s sanitary facilities, but also a maverick idealist envisioning solar powered cars that park in the air and double-up as street lamps. Hear Ross Lovegrove speak about his inspiration, motivation and achievements that sustain him as one of the world’s leading industrial designers.
Tickets cost £15. For further information and to book your place, please visit www.designmuseum.org.
Richard Sapper
Friday 16th May 2008
Speaker: Richard Sapper
Richard Sapper has worked for several decades producing highly-influential and iconic designs helping to establish the genre of ‘techno-functionalism’. In the 1960s his working relationship with Marco Zanuso led to notable designs including the rounded portable Doney 14 television (1962) and the ground-breaking compact folding Grillo telephone for Siemens (1965). Other examples of Sapper’s design achievements include the enormously successful Tizio high-tech work lamp (1972), the Bollitore whistling kettle for Alessi (1983) and the world-beating Thinkpad laptops for IBM.
Tickets cost £15. For further information and to book your place, please visit www.designmuseum.org.
Submit a question for this lecture
Have your chance to ask Richard Sapper your most inquisitive question. Simply submit your question here and we’ll present the most thought-provoking entry live at the lecture.
You need to register and sign in to ask a question
signin / register
Watch this lecture in full here 24 hours after the event.
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Video available here 24hrs after the lecture
Supersonic Design
Friday 23rd May 2008
Speaker: Christopher John Dugmore Orlebar
Former British Concorde pilot and leading authority on this supersonic aircraft, Christopher John Dugmore Orlebar will tell the story of Concorde. Starting with its earliest development, the presentation will follow the evolution and history of this icon of luxurious transatlantic travel, ending with its final flight and decommissioning.
Tickets cost £15. For further information and to book your place, please visit www.designmuseum.org.
Submit a question for this lecture
Have your chance to ask Christopher John Dugmore Orlebar your most inquisitive question. Simply submit your question here and we’ll present the most thought-provoking entry live at the lecture.
You need to register and sign in to ask a question
signin / register
Watch this lecture in full here 24 hours after the event.
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Video available here 24hrs after the lecture
