The Judging panel for the Arts Foundation Product Design Fellowship Award 2012 this year included Daniel Charny, Michelle Ogundehin: Editor of Elle-Deco and Deyan Sudjic: Director of the Design Museum, London. The nominees selection exposed the dichotomy at the heart of product design which emerging design professionals face. Cultural production or main stream relevance. Few manage to capture both but those that do, do so through challenging preconceptions. The shortlist this year gives voice to the diversity of the field, though one strand seemed under represented, in that the nominations concentrated more on designers that drive their own practice and fewer of those harder to identify industrial design talents that are imbedded in design teams.

The 23^rd International Conference of the Society for Medical Innovation and Technology (SMIT), chaired by the innovative surgeon Amir Szold invited a keynote on Design Thinking and how to work with designers. The talk by Daniel Charny reviewed the development of the profession of industrial design as a strategic practice suggesting to the inventors, engineers and medical innovation leaders to integrate design and designers from the very early stages of their projects. The talk also presented recent ground breaking work from the Helen Hamlyn Design Centre.

Published by the V&A Museum to coincide with the exhibition Power of Making, opening September 6 2011, this series of essays edited and introduced by Daniel Charny includes new pieces by anthropologist Danny Miller, cultural historian and educationalist  Christopher Frayling, Applied arts historian Martina Margetts, curator and artist  Ele Carpenter, science fiction author  Bruce Sterling and a recently conducted interview with Director of the Center for Bits and Atoms Neil Gershenfeld. The images selected from the exhibits are accompanied by short poetic captions commissioned from author Patricia Rodriguez. Designed by Oscar & Ewan. For full details check here.

Images from CRblog.

Four more projects by Design Products students from the group working with Roberto Feo and Daniel Charny include: QR U? a project about exploring and controlling online identity by Thorunn Arnadottir ; Fast assembly studio furniture bracket system by Thomas Hatfield; From Here For Here local materials for local product, pencil making mini factory for the Royal College of Art students by Ariane Prin and Lightweight trestles and heavyweight coat-hangers by Benjamin Whistle (Images on their way).

Konstfack university college of arts, crafts and design is reflecting on locality in a global design and art world. Daniel Charny will be among a group of panelists invited by Ivar Björkman, President of Konstfack since 2003 to take part in a public round table discussion about the role of geographical location in art, craft and design. It’s a pertinent question for design and art education especially in these times when there is increasing pressure by governing bodies and students alike to demonstrate value. Among the panelists are: Liesbeth den Besten, Dan Fern, Søren Grammel, Davide Quadrio, LouiseSchouwenberg, Annika von Taube and Marco Velardi.

This year Daniel Charny nominated four designs for Brit Insurance Designs of the year 2011 the yearly showcase of selected designs from around the world is on at the Design Museum London until July 2011.

SPUN by HEATHERWICK STUDIO/Manufactured by MAGIS; LEVERAGED FREEDOM CHAIR by MIT MOBILITY LABORATORY; BRANCA by INDUSTRIAL FACILITY/Manufactured by Mattiazzi and INTIMATE RIDER by ALAN THOLKES.

On the opening night of Clerkenwell Design Week Knoll hosted The Fakes Debate asking key members within the design industry to argue the pros and cons of producing copycat products – are they democratizing design or are they ruining the industry’s integrity?  An impressive line up included Designer, Ross Lovegrove, RCA senior Tutor and Independent Curator, Daniel Charny, V&A Design Curator, Abraham Thomas and CEO of MyDeco, Nicole Vanderbilt presented argued their case for or against the motion ‘This House Believes Fakes are a Crime against Design.’

The event was chaired by Director of Architecture, Design and Fashion at the British Council, Vicky Richardson and was left as a controversial issue!

COMING SOON:

MADE IN ITALY: MILAN DESIGN CITY

Tuesday 18 May, The Lighthouse, Glasgow – 7.15pm

Its where to go to show, see and be seen. Curator and lecturer Daniel Charny, designer Fabio Novembre, and curator and editor Joseph Grima, will explore how this city and the annual Salone de Mobile provoke and promote new Italian design.

JUST HAPPENED:

MADE IN ITALY: ITALIAN INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

Dr. Penny Sparke, Mario Bellini and Daniel Charny discus the nuances of the Italian design scene; with a number of detailed and personal case studies, this event will give an insightful look into the inner workings of Italian design. Monday 19th May, Design Museum, London.