Alice Rawsthorn on Good Design

On Sunday 28 June 2009 at London’s Conway Hall, Alice Rawsthorn (design critic of the International Herald Tribune, columnist for the New York Times and a leading authority on contemporary design) will host a ’sermon’ at The School of Life entitled “Alice Rawsthorn on Good Design”.

ABOUT the talk:

The numbers seem nutty. There are 6.5 billion people on this planet, 90 percent of whom can’t afford basic products and services. Half of them don’t have regular access to food, shelter or clean water. Yet when we talk about design, it’s usually about visual eye candy, a cute new chair or digital device.  

‘There’s nothing wrong with such things says Alice Rawsthorn. It’s just that when you look at the bigger picture, it seems strange that so much time and energy should be devoted to creating luxuries for relatively few people, when so many essentials are needed urgently by so many more.

At a time when the environmental crisis is deepening, social and political systems are breaking down, and the global economy is in crisis, Alice takes to The School of Life pulpit to argue that we ignore the importance of good design only at our peril.

She’ll show how design can play a pivotal part in developing new products, systems and networks both to help us repair the damage caused already, and to enable us to behave more responsibly in the future.

Whether you already worship at a Philippe Stark altarpiece or simply want to understand how design can help to make the world a better place, come and hear Alice preaching about why it should be an essential not a peripheral concern.’