Days ahead of Surface Design Show 2022 officially opening its doors, Hotel Designs takes a peek at the speakership line-up, which includes Editor Hamish Kilburn moderating one of the opening night debates as well as interviewing interior designer of the year, Tina Norden, on the main stage…
Surface Design Show 2022, which opens next, will be an exciting combination of education, engagement and entertainment at one of the first industry events to fully return to a face-to-face format this year. Held from February 8 – 10, the event, which will aim to shine the spotlight on surface trends, will take place once again at London’s Business Design Centre in Islington.
The Main Stage will host a total of 18 different talks staged across the 2 1/2 days, featuring some 50 speakers, inspiring and educating a professional audience of over 1,000 architects and designers.
Image credit: Surface Design Show
The Opening Night Debate, held in partnership with RIBA, kicks off proceedings from 18:30 – 19:30pm on February 8, where a stellar line up of industry experts will discuss Climate Change and Future Proofing. This session will explore not only the issues around the future durability and adaptability of current projects, but also how we can ensure that the commercial value of projects can be future proofed against climate change. Speakers include Rachael Owens, Architect and Head of Sustainability with Buckley Grey Yeoman, Simon Sturgis, Founder of carbon consultancy Targeting Zero LLP and Ana Rita Martens, Architect and Senior Associate sustainability at Woodalls.
Continuing the environmentally conscious theme, the second session of that evening will be moderated by Hotel Designs’ Hamish Kilburn, and will look at Why Sustainable Interiors Matter, featuring founding signatories of the Interior Design Declares, an industry response to climate breakdown and biodiversity collapse. These include biophilic design champion Oliver Heath, MCM’s Design Director Deepak Parmar and Helen Gordon, Co-founder of sustainable construction company Kite.
There will be a number of ‘Legends Live’ sessions throughout Surface Design Show. These will offer visitors the chance to hear from the likes of lighting designer Sally Storey being interviewed by Theresa Dowling of FX Magazine, Conran and Partners’ Tina Norden being interviewed by Kilburn and AHMM’s Paul Monaghan talking to Phil Coffey of Coffey Architects as they discuss their illustrious careers to date.
Among the highlights of Wednesday are the Colour, Material and Finish Forecast featuring Hannah Malein, Head of Trends for Colour Hive/MIX magazine and the Surface Design Awards Preview: Surface Tension. Chaired by architectural critic and correspondent Aidan Walker, the session will gather together a group of articulate influencers to select and discuss some of the outstanding submissions from the 2022 Surface Design Awards.
The winners of the Surface Design Awards will be revealed in a networking breakfast on Thursday 10 February from 08:45 until 10:30. Hosted by designer, educator, diversity & inclusion consultant and careers mentor, Simon Hamilton, 48 Finalists will be present to hear whom the judges have chosen as their 2022 winners. Ever-supportive of emerging talent, the Surface Design Awards Display will be designed by a team of young people supported by the Design Museum.
Ever popular elements of the Surface Design Show return once more including the New Talent section, dedicated to ‘start up’ designers and Surface Spotlight Live where visitors can touch and feel a selection of materials curated by trend and colour expert Sally Angharad.
Stone Gallery is set for its strongest ever showing with an Italian Pavilion of 28 stone producers. Britain’s Stone Federation will also be hosting a pavilion, whilst architects Squire & Partners has designed a Stone Tapestry, a bespoke installation piece exploring innovative textures, light, colour and pattern to create a tapestry of inspiring materials from around the world.
Get set for a packed few days of knowledge sharing, a celebration of industry achievements and plenty of opportunities for networking at Surface Design Show 2022.
Main image credit: Surface Design Show
