Reykjavík Grapevine - 04.03.2016, Qupperneq 54

T H E R E Y K J A V Í K G R A P E V I N E D E S I G N M A R C H S P E C I A L2
Hlín Helga: Only a few of our guests,
or perhaps even none, would go
around claiming they were innova-
tive designers, waving a flag and
saying: “I stand for innovation!” But
there’s something underlying both
their thinking and their doing that
ventures into new territories. Also,
they’re talking about things they’ve
actually done—projects that have
been implemented. It’s not just be-
ing crazy, creative and speculative—
these are projects where the car has
been driven home. We’re talking
about everything from designing
clothes that read the environment
around us to redesigning govern-
ment. There’s a wide spectrum in
their practises.
Lauren Bowker believes technology
is magic. And just by stating that,
she’s putting technology in a differ-
ent light. She’s doing research and
working with scientists in different
fields, working for Airbus, Formula
One, big clients like that, who are
interested in new materials that can
read data from their surroundings.
She’s working on textiles that can
read brainwaves. She’s called The
Fashion Witch, which should give
you some idea.
Studio Swine is an Anglo-Japanese
couple who work around the world,
running research lab design. They
look at ways of using design as a tool,
but in unexpected ways. They’re in-
terested in localising systems in a glo-
balised world, and in themes like sus-
tainability. For example, they went
out into the ocean to collect plastic
to use as a material. Their work is in
the spirit of asking new questions, or
turning things upside down.
Maria Lisogorskaya of Assemble will
flesh out for us what their process is
like. The group is interested in bridg-
ing the gap between the public and
the decision-makers in urban plan-
ning. They’re interested in talking
to people in less well-off neighbour-
hoods about how to revive a partic-
ular street or area. They use those
dreams as a resource… but they’re
very concerned with the design
methodology of action, and doing
things. Maria’s talk is on “learning by
making”—very inspiring.
ALL NEW
EVERY-
THING
From what we wear to the spaces
we inhabit to the communication
devices we use, design is omni-
present. With this in mind, Reyk-
javík’s annual DesignMarch festi-
val emphasises the importance of
design. From open studios to new
product launches, exhibitions, and
debates among design thinkers,
DesignMarch aims to express Ice-
landic design to the industry and
the public alike.
A key component of this mis-
sion is DesignTalks—a day of semi-
nars, debates and discussions that
bring together various creatives,
buyers, and a melee of interested
folk, from enthusiasts to govern-
ment officials, to talk over the is-
sues of the moment.
Show and tell
“One of the main goals of Design-
Talks is to reach out to people and
show them how design affects
their own lives,” says Hlín Helga,
the curator and moderator of the
day. “It acts as inspiration for the
industry, sure; but it’s also this
show-and-tell about what we do
and what we’re capable of. Design
is often about collaboration, so it’s
essential that people realise that
we’re here and know what we can
do—and that people maybe take
design more seriously.”
Designers’ work includes re-
sponding to the emergence of new
materials, new technological ca-
pabilities, and fluctuating societal
tides; sating individuals’ changing
needs and desires; and catering to
the mores of the industry itself.
“Design is always evolving,”
says Hlín Helga. “Everything is
changing, really, in society. In cit-
ies, countries, and the whole conti-
nent of Europe, we can see chang-
ing demographics, with people
moving between countries, and
governments struggling to pro-
vide everything for everybody. We
need a lot of rethinking. Design
has been exploring that space—not
only because things are changing,
but also because fundamental sys-
tems are broken and uncertainty
is increasing. Also, there’s a louder
voice about sustainability now. It
doesn’t make sense for product de-
signers just to think about tangible
products. Design can and should
contribute to the larger conversa-
tion forming—and informing—the
future.”
Exploration, collabora-
tion, development
This process of rethinking also in-
volves a deep examination of what
the discipline of design can be, and
what more it has to offer.
“Speaking about new ways of
approaching things doesn’t just
mean new technology,” says Hlín.
“There is an increasing interest
in social innovation. There’s a
momentum in collaboration—ur-
ban planning, process design—
dreams and desires even—all going
through design as a medium. And I
think people are increasingly open
to that exploration.”
The online world has also
birthed a new frontier, with de-
signers looking past how a website
looks, to whether the interface
feels intuitive to use. “We have so
many companies right now—Face-
book, Airbnb, Uber, and of course
Apple—that use systems,” explains
Hlín Helga. “They’re technology-
based, tapping into desires, needs
and behaviours to improve life,
and evolving with people. These
companies are directly based on
design thinking. Design is embed-
ded within the concept, and it's not
just a skin applied to make things
pretty.”
“So, designers are impacting
our everyday lives in more ways
than ever before,” she finishes.
“We’re rethinking and reinvent-
ing everything—asking, 'We have
access to all this technology—now
what else can design do?’”
If it wasn’t for design, you’d be naked right now,
sitting outdoors, on a patch of raw ground. You
wouldn’t have an iPhone to call for a ride, and
even if you did, the person on the other end
wouldn’t have a car to pick you up (they’d be na-
ked and sitting outdoors too). You wouldn’t even
have constructed a shelter from whale bones and
moss. It would suck. By John Rogers
From mind-reading
clothes to redesigning
government, innova-
tion is the theme at
DesignTalks
COLUMNAR
The typeface used for headlines in this issue is a new
Icelandic typeface. Called Columnar, it is designed by
Elsa Jónsdóttir in collaboration with Björn Loki Björns-
son.
TALKDESIGNS:
Hlín Helga guides
us through the
2016 DesignTalks
programme