Interface Returns to Clerkenwell Design Week
Interface showroom, 1 Northburgh Street, Clerkenwell
This year at Clerkenwell Design Week, Interface will be embracing our instinctive love of nature – a science known as biophilia – along with its passion for sustainability and design, with a number of interactive and educational workshops.
Interface has developed a programme of seminars and topical debates with leading industry experts. These will cover topics such as the role of sustainability in design, the creative use of colour in the office environment, and how biophillia can be incorporated into interior design.
Day One, 21st May: Colour and Design
The first day promotes design trends and colour, with a number of leading experts set to deliver informative talks and workshops; including thought provoking talks from Per Nimer, the Swedish architect, designer and colour expert, and consultant for global paint company AkzoNobel and Gem Barton, writer and interior architecture lecturer at Brighton University.
Award-winning designer, architect and author, Professor Richard Weston, will be running an interactive drop-in session at the Interface showroom, demonstrating how he has used ‘designs’ found in natural materials, such as minerals and rocks, to inspire the creation of products such as iPhone cases and scarves.
Day Two, 22nd May: Sustainability
At the heart of everything Interface does is its Mission Zero pledge; the company’s vision of becoming totally sustainable – and ultimately restorative – by 2020. It underpins all dimensions of the organisation: people, process, product, place and profit and incorporates every aspect of its activity – from product design, manufacturing, and logistics, through to marketing and management.
Reflecting the company’s passion for sustainable development, on day two of Clerkenwell
Design Week Interface will be focusing on this issue, with a panel discussion on sustainable design, hosted by Hattie Harman, Sustainability Editor of the Architects’ Journal and creative and interactive workshops with Kate Stewart, creator of Factory Floor Jewels, which will show visitors how to create their own piece of jewellery made from everyday waste.
Robert Firth, architect, consultant, lecturer and examiner, will also be giving an inspirational talk on Biophilia entitled ‘As Nature Intended’.
Day Three, 23rd May: Inspired by Biophilia
Focusing on Biophilia, the inspiration behind Interface’s latest Urban Retreat collection, Interface will be hosting a variety of seminars on day three at its showroom, including an educational talk on Biophilia by Amanda Farrell, founder of Present with Confidence and an inspiring session with Steve Alton, Principal Consultant – FlowerScapes Ltd which will look at the loss of species – including bees and other insects in the UK and some of the new initiatives to try and reverse this trend through urban habitat design. Guest speaker Michael Pawlyn, founder of Exploration Architecture, will also deliver a presentation on ‘Biomimicry and the Ecological Age’.
Visitors will also have the chance to put their creativity into action and decorate cupcakes at its showroom on the third day.
After three days of inspiring talks, unique exhibitions and numerous innovative products and installations at Clerkenwell Design Week, Interface will also be inviting visitors to a party night, with a DJ to be announced.
