John Sorrell is co-founder and chairman of London Design Festival. With his wife Frances, he founded Newell and Sorrell, which for 25 years was one of Europe’s most successful design and identity businesses. In 1999, he and Frances set up educational charity The Sorrell Foundation, with the aim of inspiring creativity in young people and improving quality of life through good design. John has chaired both the UK’s public design bodies, the Design Council and the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment, and University of the Arts London. From 2009 to 2018, he served as a UK Business Ambassador, and in 2014 he founded the Creative Industries Federation, which he chaired until 2017.

Juliet Quintero is an architect and designer based in East London. 

Juliet studied architecture at the Bartlett, UCL and co-founded Dallas-Pierce-Quintero in 2009 together with David Pierce and Jonathan Dallas.

The award-winning practice works at the intersection of Architecture, Public Art, Public Realm and Cultural Strategies. Engaging communities is at the heart of the studio’s ethos, employing art, design and the innovative  use of materials to create better places.

Within the studio, Juliet has led several prominent Public Art projects, both as designer and commissioner, and has also undertaken strategic cultural visioning for Birmingham, Watford and Haringey. Many of her public art projects have specifically sought to engage young people throughout the design process.

For over 25 years the American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC) has been at the forefront of international wood promotion, successfully building a distinctive and creative brand for U.S. hardwoods. AHEC’s global programme of activities secure a future for American hardwoods by demonstrating the performance and aesthetic potential of these sustainable materials, while providing valuable creative inspiration and technical advice.

Find out more about AHEC

Benchmark is a leading company of craftspeople and designers, founded 30 years ago by Sir Terence Conran and Sean Sutcliffe. Based in West Berkshire on a converted farm, the team is now 50 strong in over 40,000 sq ft of workshops for timber milling, carpentry, veneering, spraying, specialist metalworking and upholstery, as well as design studio and furniture showroom. Benchmark works extensively on design solutions for hotels, restaurants, public buildings, offices and private residences.

benchmarkfurniture.com

The London Design Festival is a key constituent of London’s autumn creative season, alongside London Fashion Week, Frieze Art Fair and the London Film Festival. Established in 2003 its role is to celebrate and promote London as the world’s design capital and gateway to the international design community and it has now established a reputation as one of the largest and most exciting design events in the world. This year the Festival will run from 15-23 September and over 400 events and installations will be on offer across the capital, from an exciting programme at the V&A to plus over 300 partners who will participate in the nine-day Festival.

www.londondesignfestival.com

The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) is the world’s leading museum of art and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.3 million objects that span over 5,000 years of human creativity. The Museum holds many of the UK's national collections and houses some of the greatest resources for the study of architecture, furniture, fashion, textiles, photography, sculpture, painting, jewellery, glass, ceramics, book arts, Asian art and design, theatre and performance. 

www.vam.ac.uk