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Parnham & the Matter of Making
Join an esteemed line-up of speakers including John Makepeace (OBE), Glenn Adamson and Catharine Rossi in a talk about the importance of making, design and the future of craftsmanship.
What to expect
What do we mean by craft today? In an age of robotic production, where digital technologies present new opportunities to designers and makers, our perception of craft is changing.
In recent years however, we have seen a revival in the desire to learn practical skills and processes among designers across all disciplines. Rejecting the status quo, these designer-makers are applying humanistic and tactile sensibilities to create individual objects to express ideas.
Parnham College, founded by the renowned British designer John Makepeace OBE in 1977, was a leading design school that changed the face of contemporary design. The school nurtured and pioneered a human-centred approach to craftsmanship, arguing that professional education for designer-makers was inadequate. As such, Parnham developed an educational model that integrated design, making and business management as a single discipline, igniting the careers of its illustrious alumni - award-winning designers that include highly influential names such as Konstantin Grcic, Wales and Wales, Sean Sutcliffe (Benchmark), David Linley (Linley), Mark Boddington (Silver Lining), Juliane Trummer (from the 787 Dreamliner team), Jake Phipps, Sarah Kaye, Jim Partridge and Guy Mallinson (RIBA Awards Short List 2017).
To mark its 40-year anniversary, and celebrate the launch of the exceptional 180-page book 'Beyond Parnham', the Design Museum is bringing together leading voices in the field of craft to discuss the legacy of Parnham College and the value of making and craftsmanship in design today.
Image credit | MPteaching, courtesy John Makepeace
Image credit | KD table, courtesy John Makepeace
Image credit | Chatsworth Desk, courtesy John Makepeace
Image credit | Millennium, courtesy John Makepeace
Image credit | Forum table & chairs.courtesy John Makepeace
Image credit | Flow, courtesy John Makepeace
Image credit | Petra, courtesy John Makepeace’
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Giveaway
All individuals who book on to this talk will be placed into a randomised draw to win one of three lavishly illustrated books, 'Beyond Parnham', signed exclusively by the author John Makepeace. The three winners will be handed the book during the talk.
Speakers
John Makepeace
John Makepeace (OBE) is a designer and craftsman and founder of Parnham College. His work is represented in the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Fitzwilliam Museum, the Museum fur Kunstandwerk, Frankfurt and the Arts Institute, Chicago. In 2016 he won the Prince Philip Designers Prize in recognition of his outstanding contribution to design.
Glenn Adamson
Glenn Adamson is this year's Guest Curator for Beazley Designs of the Year, and is currently Senior Scholar at the Yale Center for British Art. Dr. Adamson was previously Director of the Museum of Arts and Design in New York, and Head of Research at the V&A, and is a well-known writer on craft and design history.
Catharine Rossi
Dr Catharine Rossi is a design historian based at Kingston University. Her research interests include craft, socially and politically engaged design, and nightclubs. Her publications include Crafting Design in Italy: from Postwar to Postmodernism (MUP, 2015). She is currently co-curating an exhibition on nightclubs and design for Vitra Design Museum (2018).
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Background image | Forum table & chairs, courtesy of John Makepeace.