In this lecture, Riya explores solutions to the decline of design and craft education in secondary school and what we have to gain from revolutionised design teaching.

Riya Patel is curator of The Aram Gallery, an independent gallery in London dedicated to new and experimental design. She is a contributing editor at Icon magazine, and writes for several publications including Disegno, Wallpaper* and The Independent.

Sabine discusses what a design world dominated by white males suggests about bias and inaction, the importance of inclusivity, and the tools needed to bring about change.

Sabine Zetteler is the founder of London-based communications agency Zetteler, which specialises in art and design. Offering services in PR, strategy and film, the agency focuses on bringing people together to create real, meaningful and lasting change.

Catharine discusses the resurgence in the popularity of craft and asks questions about its value, who it’s for, and whether it’s here to stay.

A design historian interested in socially and politically engaged approaches to design and design history, Catharine Rossi is a researcher, teacher and communicator spanning subjects from craft to nightclubs. She has curated projects at the Venice Architecture Biennale, Institute of Contemporary Arts, and Vitra Design Museum.

Leyla discusses what is going wrong and what is going right as we try to build our economy on top of more sustainable premises.

An Australian designer, sustainability innovator, and educator, Leyla is the founder of two design agencies, Disrupt Design and Eco Innovators, as well as the UnSchool, an award-winning pop-up programme that disrupts the mainstream way that knowledge is gained and shared. She was 2016 UN Environment Champion of the Earth and has lectured at TED Talk events and Google.

Jonas connects the dots between the hidden factors in play when Brdr. Krüger evolves their heritage brand, bridging the past with the future as they maintain both their values and relevance. He discusses how they embed storytelling and personality into the products that ultimately make them not only built to last, but designed to keep.

Jonas Krüger is the owner of Brdr. Krüger, a Danish woodworker with a passion for wood, crafting furniture and accessories since 1886. The company has worked with designers including Hans Bølling, Kay Bojesen, and OEO Studio, and sits at the heart of the Danish design industry.

Johanna discusses how objects can tell us stories about climate change and sustainability, drawing on the V&A collection.

Johanna Agerman Ross is the curator of Twentieth Century and Contemporary Furniture and Product Design at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. She is also the founder and director of the quarterly design journal Disegno.

Beatrice examines the current infatuation with restoring a higher, moral role to designers’ work within society and how this truly affects the rules of civic, economic or production ecosystems in terms of scale.

Beatrice is executive director of MAAT in Lisbon, and chief curator of the international research program “Across Chinese Cities,” featured at the Venice Architecture Biennale. She is a creative director and co-founder of The Global School, China’s first independent institute dedicated to design and creative research, and B/Side Design, an organisation developing strategies of urban and social impact in areas of socioeconomic transformation in China.