The partners
American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC)
For over 30 years the American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC) has been at the forefront of wood promotion in Europe, successfully building a distinctive and creative brand for U.S. hardwoods. AHEC’s support for creative design projects such as Connected, Legacy and MultiPly for the London Design Festival demonstrate the performance potential of these sustainable materials and provide valuable inspiration.
AHEC has pioneered the modelling of environmental Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for hardwoods, an approach that has since been adopted by other industries. LCA measures a number of impacts: primary energy demand (from renewable and non-renewable resources); global warming potential; acidification potential; eutrophication potential; and photochemical ozone creation potential.
Wallpaper*
Founded in 1996, Wallpaper* is the world’s most important design and lifestyle media brand. It produces 12 themed print issues a year, featuring a limited-edition cover by a different artist each month, and is distributed in 100 countries. With a combined social media following of 5.9 million and over 2 million unique users per month on wallpaper.com it is now firmly established as the global design authority. Wallpaper’s brand extensions include an in-house creative agency, an interior design service, a series of 50 Wallpaper* City Guides, and a must-see exhibition during Milan Design Week. Wallpaper* has played a key role in discovering and championing the world’s best design talent, and stands at the forefront of the global design community. It continues to transform the way the world thinks about design.
The Design Museum
The Design Museum is the world’s leading museum devoted to contemporary architecture and design. Its work encompasses all elements of design, including fashion, product and graphic design. Since it opened its doors in 1989 the museum has displayed everything from an AK-47 to high heels designed by Christian Louboutin. It has staged over 100 exhibitions, welcomed over seven million visitors and showcased the work of some of the world’s most celebrated designers and architects including Paul Smith, Zaha Hadid, Jonathan Ive, Frank Gehry, Eileen Gray and Dieter Rams. On 24 November 2016, The Design Museum relocated to Kensington, west London. Leading architect John Pawson has converted the interior of a 1960s modernist building to create a new home for the Design Museum giving it three times more space in which to show a wider range of exhibitions and significantly extend its learning programme.
The mentors
Tomoko Azumi
Japanese designer Tomoko Azumi is a director of TNA Design Studio, a London-based furniture, product, exhibition and retail interior design consultancy. She graduated with an MA Furniture Design from Royal College of Art in 1995, co-founding design partnership AZUMI, and then opening her solo studio in 2005. Recent works include furniture for the UK Supreme Court as well as pieces for ercol, Röthlisberger and Zilio A&C. She has been teaching design since 2000 at Glasgow School of Art, Royal College of Art, Middlesex University of Art and London Metropolitan University, Vitra Design Museum summer workshops, IUAV and Liechtenstein University.
Maria Jeglinska-Adamczewska
Maria Jeglinska-Adamczewska established her Office for Design & Research in 2012. The Polish designer graduated from ECAL’s industrial design course in 2007 and went on to work for Galerie Kreo in Paris, Konstantin Grcic in Munich and Alexander Taylor in London. She works on a wide range of commissions: industrial design projects, exhibition design, as well as research-based design projects. Her work is inspired by the idea that in today’s world, research can trigger and generate new forms of answers and offers.
Adam Markowitz
Melbourne-based Adam Markowitz is an award-winning designer and maker of furniture & lighting, as well as a practising architect. He has trained in Tasmania and Denmark, and at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in Maine, USA. Since 2015 he has operated his independent design studio, markowitzdesign, delivering residential architectural projects, small batch production furniture and custom commissions. Adam has been co-teaching the ExLab experimental making program for the last four years at the University of Melbourne, and is the current Vice President of the Victorian Woodworkers Association.
Nathan Yong
Nathan Yong graduated from Singapore’s Temasek Polytechnic in 1991, with a diploma in Industrial Design. He began his career working as a buyer as well as engaging in product development for various companies in Singapore. Now running his industrial design consultancy practice, he has collaborated with international furniture companies such as Gebrüder Thonet Vienna, Living Divani and Ligne Roset among others. He has twice won the Red Dot Concept Design Award, and was also nominated Designer of the Year at the prestigious Singapore President’s Design Award in 2008.
The workshops
Benchmark Furniture
Founded by Terence Conran and Sean Sutcliffe in 1984, the company has a mission to create furniture that contributes to human health and wellbeing, using natural, sustainable and non-toxic materials. With workshops in West Berkshire and Dorset, Benchmark works with many of the world’s leading architects and designers on commercial and residential projects. Its approach marries forward-thinking design with exemplary levels of craftsmanship and creativity.
Wewood
Wewood is a Portuguese joinery brand founded in 2010, as a result of the Research and Development Office of Móveis Carlos Alfredo. The family-owned company has specialised in manufacturing solid wood furniture since 1964. Wewood’s heritage is grounded in more than five decades of production, and the hand-making or hand-finishing of all its pieces, away from standardised, large-scale manufacture.
Fowseng
Founded in 1969, Fowseng has become renowned for its attention to detail. It creates furniture for brands including Liberty, Ligne Roset and Heal’s, and focuses on taking well-conceived designs and developing them into well-made products. Working only with American timber and employing the latest technology, combined with an understanding of traditional tools and skills, it produces furniture pieces that are made to last, both physically and aesthetically.
Evostyle
Evostyle has three generations of woodturning and joinery experience under its belt, as well as a workshop employing high-tech machinery. It works closely with many of Australia’s high-end furniture brands and is committed to the environment, using sustainable American hardwoods. Evostyle is developing training programmes to ensure high-end production skills are handed down to future generations.