Search Speakers: Design Indaba 2009

Revital Cohen recently attained a Masters in Design Interactions from the Royal College of Art in London, which followed a BA in Contemporary Furniture Design from Buckinghamshire New University. As a designer and researcher she develops critical objects and provocative scenarios exploring the juxtaposition of the natural with the artificial.

After studying at the Technical University of Delft for two years, Frank Tjepkema graduated in 1996 from the Design Academy Eindhoven. Following this he obtained an MA degree in 1998 from the Sandberg Institute in Amsterdam.

Dunne&Raby – Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby – use design as a medium to stimulate debate among designers, industry and the public about the social, cultural and ethical implications of existing and emerging technologies.

Since 2003, 5.5 designers have established an enviable reputation, being awarded the Grand Prix de la Création by the Paris City Council after just three years of business. Far from focusing only on shaping objects, 5.5 designers enforce a conceptual rigour that sees them permanently question their design status.

Li Edelkoort is a trend forecaster, educator, curator and publisher based in Paris. She has fostered design’s creative talent as chairwoman of the Design Academy Eindhoven between 1998 and 2008.

Since Javier Mariscal took up a pencil in the 1970s to earn his living, his life and career have been characterised by his creative incontinence and the need to express himself through multiple disciplines.

Sandhya Lalloo won the Vukani Design Award for Best Young Designer in 2003. Determined to showcase her skills, she subsequently founded SIN, her clothing label, and has since supplied a number of leading retail stores in South Africa.

Dwayne Spradlin is president and CEO of InnoCentive Inc, an open innovation community of smart, creative people who provide solutions to tough problems in almost any industry you can think of.

David Boira and Zoë Coombes are two architecturally trained furniture designers who work together under the studio name Commonwealth, based in New York. Both hold a Masters of Architecture from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture.

Dai Fujiwara joined the Miyake Design Studio in 1994 upon graduating from the Dyeing and Weaving Course at Tama Art University. After working as a member of the Issey Miyake Collection design staff, he launched the A-POC project with Issey Miyake in 1998. This won the Good Design Award in 2000 and the Mainichi Design Award in 2003.