Future Factory Day 1: Symposium

Ken Webster is former Head of Innovation for the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. His book The Circular Economy: A Wealth of Flows (2017) relates the connections between systems thinking, economic and business opportunity, and the transition to a circular economy. Ken is a Visiting Fellow at Cranfield University and Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the University of Exeter. UK

John Palmesino and Ann-Sofi Rönnskog are architects and urbanists. They founded Territorial Agency, an independent organisation that combines architecture, analysis, advocacy and action to promote sustainable territorial transformations. Their projects include the Museum of Oil, Anthropocene Observatory, Coast of Europe and North. They teach at the AA Architectural Association, Goldsmiths and AHO Oslo.

Jen Keane is a designer and creative researcher working in between the disciplines of design and science, technology and craft. Inspired by notions of sustainability, and a fascination with new digital and biological tools, she is exploring how new technologies could be employed to design a new generation of hybrid materials, and perhaps change our approach to making altogether.

Markus Kayser is a designer and researcher currently heading Kayser Works. Kayser’s research spans widely across disciplines, ranging from studying swarm behavior in insects to using the Sun’s rays to 3D print glass objects from raw desert sand. He earned his PhD from MIT Media Lab, previously studying design at the Royal College of Art and the London Metropolitan University.

Amy is a designer, researcher and critical thinker who explores the boundaries between design, science, and technology. She has exhibited her work internationally in venues such as Somerset House, Pratt Manhattan Gallery, EDF Fondation, and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Amy is currently Team Lead for Materials Design at Modern Meadow and Producer of the Biofabricate Summit.

Maurizio Montalti (Officina Corpuscoli) has been one of the early pioneers committed to developing a range of mycelium-based technologies for the production of biomaterials and products. He is also co-founder of Mogu, an innovation-driven, environmentally-conscious company dedicated to developing different typologies of biomaterials deriving from fungi. Maurizio’s work has been honoured with multiple awards and exhibited globally.

Carole Collet has dedicated her career to developing a new vision for sustainable design, and pioneered the discipline of Textile Futures in 2000. She is the CSM-LVMH Director of Sustainable Innovation at Central Saint Martins UAL, as well as Director of the Design & Living Systems Lab, a programme exploring the interface of the biological sciences and design.

In part two of the Future Factory Symposium, participants will learn about a range of different production models and ‘future factories’, from bio-hacking to automation in a series of discussions and hands-on activities.

Discover this year’s top picks of some of the most innovative and thought-provoking designs from the past 12 months – across fashion, architecture, digital, transport, product and graphic design.