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London Design Festival

People with VR headsets
Patchwork VR at the London Design Festival captured by Jess Law | London College of Communication | UAL

London Design Festival takes place every year where designers and innovators come together to explore exciting installations, workshops and events across London. In 2023, London Design Festival and Elephant Park partnered with London College of Communication (LCC) to celebrate Southwark South Design District and engage Southwark’s vibrant creative community by making design more inclusive and accessible.

Exploring the theme of Demystifying Design, LCC hosted a series of workshops in the heart of Elephant Park, at the Tree House. MA User Experience Design students conducted a workshop called Timeless Play, an immersive experience that enabled preserving ancestral traditions through games.

LCC Associate Lecturer Irene Martin along with LCC students led an AR experience called Women of Elephant and Castle that showcased women’s landmark contributions to Elephant and Castle. Lucy Sanderson, multidisciplinary designer and Lecturer at LCC hosted an interactive installation called A Trip Down Memory Lane that paid tribute to Elephant and Castle’s rich heritage.

There were talks and panel discussions where industry experts, design students and practitioners talked about the future of design that leads to equity and innovation. There were varied workshops that engaged designers, creatives and people from the community in practices across the spectrum of design including VR, textile and graphic design.

Jacqueline Chambers, Outreach Manager at LCC, partnered with Big Creative Academy, a school in Walthamstow, to conduct a workshop called Nourishing Creativity. Creative producer and practitioner, Decarla Phillip-Riley, led this workshop for Art and Design A-Level, Year 13 students where they built a public installation based on their findings from a walking tour in Elephant and Castle.

The events and workshops were hosted from 16-24 September and around 200 people attended them. It was covered by local news platforms like Southwark News.

Contact
LCC Business and Innovation
Email: partnerships@lcc.arts.ac.uk

This was a fantastic opportunity for students to work on a live project that focuses on such an important topic – giving visibility not only to women in the area of Elephant & Castle but also women of diverse backgrounds that have contributed and influenced the rich history of the area to know it as we now know it. This is a project that looks at engaging the general public with their environments in new ways in order to understand the 'unseen and untold' stories of women. I am very proud to have worked with Pearl and Rosie on this wonderful and much needed project.

— Irene Martin, Associate Lecturer, LCC

Project credits

Quite Brilliant Quliting Brigade: 
Led by artist, designer and research practitioner, Cai Tuomivaara.

A Trip Down Memory Lane:
Led by Lucy Sanderson, Multidisciplinary designer and Lecturer at LCC.

Timeless Play:
Students from MA User Experience Design.

Women of Elephant and Castle:
Led by Irene Martin, Associate Lecturer at LCC, and LCC students, Rosie Mitchell and Pearl Gerald.

Collective Anomalies:
Panelists:

  • Cecilia, Founder of Studio Lutalica, Design Management & Cultures alumna
  • Faisal Ag, Art Director, MA Design for Art Direction alumna
  • Emmi Mikkonen, Art Director & Multidisciplinary Designer, MA Design for Art Direction alumna

Moderator:

Louise Healy, Creator and Curator of Collective Anomalies, Co-founder of The Better Trends Company, Lecturer for MA Design for Art Direction and MA Design Management at LCC.

Marmairo Reflections on Tinian Marble:
Project by:

  • Dr. Alexandra Antonopoulou from LCC
  • Eleni Glinou from the University of West Attica
  • Eva Temponera, Designer

Patchwork:
Researchers:

  • Ravin Raori
  • Andy Lee
  • Ben Turnbull
  • Sheldon Chow

Speakers and Workshop Hosts:

  • Ravin Raori, Lecturer in Narrative Media, BA (Hons) Graphic and Media Design, LCC
  • Ben Turnbull, Lecturer in Performance Technology and Design, LCC

Nourishing Creativity:
Led by Decarla Phillip-Riley, Creative Producer, Practitioner and Facilitator

Snapshots from the festival

  • 2023.09.22_JL_AR_2023.09.23_JL_TimelessTradition_2023.09.22_AR_Experience_DSC04257.jpg
    AR Experience at the London Design Festival captured by Jess Law | London College of Communication | UAL
  • 2023.09.22_JL_PatchworkVR_2023.09.23_JL_TimelessTradition_2023.09.22_PatchworkVR_DSC04465.jpg
    Patchwork VR at the London Design Festival captured by Jess Law | London College of Communication | UAL
  • 2023.09.23_JL_MemoryLane_2023.09.23_JL_QuiltingBrigade_2023.09.23_JL_TimelessTradition_2023.09.23_MemoryLane_DSC04708.jpg
    Quilting Brigade at the London Design Festival captured by Jess Law | London College of Communication | UAL
  • 2023.09.22_JL_ResearchTrail_2023.09.23_JL_TimelessTradition_2023.09.22_ResearchTrail_DSC04294.jpg
    Research Trail at the London Design Festival captured by Jess Law | London College of Communication | UAL
  • T-min.jpg
    Timeless Play at the London Design Festival captured by Jess Law | London College of Communication | UAL
  • 2023.09.23_JL_TimelessTradition_2023.09.23_TimelessTradition_DSC04719.jpg
    Timeless Tradition at the London Design Festival captured by Jess Law | London College of Communication | UAL
  • 2023.09.23_JL_QuiltingBrigade_2023.09.23_JL_TimelessTradition_2023.09.23_QuiltingBrigade_DSC04597-min.jpg
    Quilting Brigade at the London Design Festival captured by Jess Law | London College of Communication | UAL

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