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Friend or Faux? Defining Authentic Design

How do we define ‘authentic’ design in today's digital age? What determines a fake from an original? Join the Design Museum’s Director Deyan Sudjic, with designers Ineke Hans and Joni Steiner, Vitra Chairman Rolf Fehlbaum and Curator and writer Johanna Agerman Ross for a talk about the importance of design heritage.

What to expect

What do we mean by ‘authentic’? How do we define ‘artistic craftsmanship’?

These are complicated questions in an today’s digital age where new technologies such as 3D printing and open-source software are radically transforming the design industry. What’s more, recent changes to copyright law has increased design protection for classic, ‘original’ products to prevent copies from flooding the market. But what defines an original piece of design? And why are we threatened by copies?

Join the Design Museum in a talk about the changing meaning of ‘authentic’ design today.

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Booking information

Adult £10
Student/Concession £7.50

Kuka Robot, copyright Kuka

Robot from The Future is Here exhibition at the Design Museum (2013) Photography Luke Hayes

Robot from The Future is Here exhibition at the Design Museum (2013) Photography Luke Hayes

Fogo Long Bench, photo Steffen Jagenburg

Plektra Teema group 2015, courtesy Ineke Hans Studio

Ahrend A380 line up, courtesy Ineke Hans Studio

Chair

Deyan Sudjic, OBE

Deyan Sudjic is the Director of the Design Museum in London. His career has spanned journalism, teaching and writing. Deyan was director of Glasgow UK City of Architecture 1999 and in 2002 he was Director of the Venice Architecture Biennale. Deyan has published many books on design and architecture and was made an OBE in 2000.

Speakers

Johanna Agerman Ross

Johanna Agerman Ross is the Curator of Twentieth Century and Contemporary Furniture and Product Design at the Victoria & Albert Museum. Before joining the museum she founded and edited the quarterly design journal Disegno and was an editor of the monthly architecture and design magazine Icon.

Ineke Hans

Ineke Hans designs industrial furniture and products, as well as handmade objects for international manufacturers. Her work combines traditional and current open source production playing with the interactions between humans, objects and space. In September her solo exhibition 'Was ist Loos?' will open at Kunsthalle Wien.

Rolf Fehlbaum

Rolf Fehlbaum is Vitra Chairman Emeritus. During his tenure at Vitra he has established relationships with many of the world`s leading designers, and developed projects with the likes of Tadao Ando, Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, Nicholas Grimshaw, Alvaro Siza, Herzog & de Meuron and SANAA. In 1989 Fehlbaum founded the Vitra Design Museum.

Joni Steiner

Joni is a London-based architect and designer. He co-founded Opendesk with a mission to build a new kind of furniture company through an open, distributed and equitable supply chain. Leading the company’s creative direction and design, he is also a founding member of the strategic design studio 00, and the Open-source housing system Wikihouse.