Reflecting on the provocative theme for this year’s Designers in Residence at the Design Museum, this debate brings together leading thinkers to explore the predominant trends influencing Open design. These include the increasing importance of open and collaborative design and manufacturing processes as well as the increasing prevalence of open design principles to empower communities and challenge pre-existing structures.

Chair

Professor Daniel Charny

Daniel Charny is director of the creative and cultural consultancy From Now On. He is best known as curator of the internationally acclaimed exhibition Power of Making at the V&A Museum and as co-founder of the social design initiative Fixperts. Charny has worked closely with the Design Museum. He was founding director of the Central Research Laboratory and creative director of the British Council’s Maker Library Network. He is Professor of Design at Kingston University.

Panel

Joni Steiner

Joni is a qualified architect and designer with the YAYA shortlisted architecture and strategic design firm 00:/ (zero zero). Part of the TED Prize winning WikiHouse design team, he was Lead Designer for Bristol Urban Beach, offices for the Association of Photographers and the RIBA Award winning Manor Works enterprise & community centre in Sheffield. Joni developed the original range of open-source furniture for Mint Digital and Hub Westminster and continues to evolve this with Opendesk as co-founder.

Alice Casey

Alice is currently leading on a portfolio of work at Nesta looking at how the web is transforming communities and civic life. She has a particular interest in how people themselves are changing the society around them using new technology and new ways of organising, collaborating and connecting from the ground up.

Before joining Nesta in 2009, Casey worked for Involve.org.uk where she led on a range of research driven and practical projects that explored how public involvement in decision making can improve policy responses and public services. 

Adrian Westaway

Adrian is an inventor, engineer and experience designer on a mission to make the human-technology interaction meaningful and delightful.

As co-founder of Special Projects he harnesses technology, inclusive research and magic thinking to devise design propositions that feel familiar yet wondrous. He is a tutor and lecturer in Design & Innovation at Queen Mary University and Goldsmiths, University of London, and a visiting faculty member at the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design.

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