Having left Cape Town yesterday delirious with excitement, I am now stuck in the sleep-depraved timewarp that is Istanbul Airport in transit. Between watching the clock and the people, I wonder if there’s a way to travel the world, from transit mall to transit mall without ever needing to clear customs. Could that be purgatory!?

Anyway, I’m en route to Italy and will alight tonight. Then two days in Milan, Two days in Bellagio and then back to Milan for two days of iSaloni.

In Bellagio, I will be participating in Reasons Not to Be Pretty – a “Symposium on Design, Social Change and the ‘Museum’”. It’s hosted by the Winterhouse Institute at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Centre. William Drenttel and Julie Lasky will be leading us in what sounds to be a quite discussion-based two days. (Although, right now, stuck in this fishbowl, I can think of lots of reasons to champion prettiness).

I’ll be blogging it all and the outcome is sure to be interesting, considering that the 23 participants were by invitation only:

  • Jimena Acosta Romero, independent curator and journalist, Mexico City
  • Paola Antonelli, senior curator, Museum of Modern Art, New York
  • Andrew Blauvelt, design director, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
  • Adélia Borges, chief curator, Brazilian Design Biennial, São Paulo
  • Nadine Botha, editor, Design Indaba, Cape Town
  • Ashoke Chatterjee, former director, National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad
  • Allan Chochinov, partner, Core77, New York
  • William Drenttel, editorial director, Winterhouse Institute, Connecticut
  • Galit Gaon, director, Design Museum Holon, Israel
  • Jamer Hunt, director, Interdisciplinary Graduate Initiatives, Parsons The New School for Design, New York
  • Niels Jarler, curator, INDEX:Award Exhibition, Copenhagen
  • Julie Lasky, editor, Winterhouse Institute, New York
  • Jeremy Myerson, director, Helen Hamlyn Centre, Royal College of Art, London
  • Alex Newson, curator, Design Museum, London
  • Jogi Panghaal, independent designer and educator, India
  • Fabio Sergio, creative director, Frog Design, Milan
  • Kiran Sethi, founder, Riverside School and Design for Change, Ahmedabad
  • Cynthia Smith, curator of socially responsible design, Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, New York
  • John Thackara, founder, Doors of Perception, Netherlands and France
  • Paul Thompson, rector, Royal College of Art, London
  • Els Van der Plas, director, Prince Claus Fund for Culture & Development, Amsterdam
  • Jane Withers, design consultant, curator and writer, London


More info on the Winterhouse Institute website.

And then it’s on to Milano…