Conference highlights

It wasn't quite in the flesh, as I was attending a simulcast version of the Design Indaba Conference, but nonetheless, over the past two days I have seen and heard the most extraordinary people speaking, including:

Ilse Crawford

The design work of Ilse Crawford and her team at StudioIlse is informed by a concern with the "warm" aspects of what it is to be human - aspects of interaction, senses, emotion, pleasure, soul, culture. This concern is somehow deeply feminine, and I feel this quality comes through in the work in a most elegant manner, evidenced in the photo above.

Ivan Chermayeff

Ivan Chermayeff of Chermayeff & Geismar is the guy who designed the logo for Mobil, and for Xerox, and ... just about every iconic 20th Century logo you can think of, really. I was very taken with the 9 story high mural made with handpainted traditional Portuguese tiles for the Lisbon Aquarium . See more pics of this awe inspiring work here.

Oscar ePena

I think I might nickname my Cube kettle "Oscar" after seeing its designer, Oscar e Peña speaking about his work as senior creative director at Phillips.

Airside

When the zingy London design team, Airside told us about their charming Stitches project, they had the audience in... well yes, you guessed it.

Marije Vogelzang

Listening to eating designer Marije Vogelzang of Proef was almost overwhelming. Her energy and imagination is without bounds. And... exciting news... she keeps a blog about her work!

Maxim Velcovsky

It was really interesting to listen to Czech artist Maxim Velcovsky of design studio Qubus talking about his work. I've not been very fond of what I've seen of his work (his porcelain wellies always remind of those ceramic paper bag things from the '80s), but knowing the ideas behind the objects has certainly enriched them for me.


(Oh, and PS: When I grow up, I want to be Ilse Crawford, please! )