Friday 7 February, 1900h

Seminar Room 1:  Sackler Centre, Victoria & Albert Museum

In an economy no longer focused on mass production, designers have had to be innovative and inventive in finding models through which they can start their businesses and establish a public profile. In the past, this has sometimes meant designing their own briefs and starting collectives which utilise networks formed at design school.  In recent years, the success of crowd-sourcing sites such as Kickstarter have formalised this start-up model , creating a template for this process to happen. So how has this changed things? What are the implications both on design practice and on relationships with the consumer and the client? What are the support structures for emerging designers and how does this challenge ‘expertise’ or professional status?

Guest Chair:  Liz Farrelly, University of Brighton.

Andrew Merritt, Something and Son
Nicolas Roope, Founder of Hulger and Poke
Alexandre Bettler, Designer, DesignMarketo
Héloïse Parke, Curator, The Aram Gallery
Jonathan Sapsed, Principal Research Fellow, CENTRIM, University of Brighton.

Free. All welcome. Book here.
If the bookings page shows that this event is fully booked, please send an email to Leah Armstrong  (l.armstrong[at]vam.ac.uk), who can put you on an additional list.