Each year during London Design Festival, we invite key design industry figures from around the world to join us for our Design Connections programme.
Curated by our architecture, design and fashion department, the programme offers directors and curators from design museums, centres and festivals around the world an inspiring and immersive introduction to the best of the London Design Festival, alongside meetings with leading designers and organisations with the aim of brokering new connections and collaborations.
This year, we invited Janson Hews, Head of Programs at Australia's Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences. The programme, Janson says, provided valuable insights into the British design sector and the production of the London Design Festival, helping him create valuable links with UK designers and cultural institutions, as well as the broader international cohort of Design Connections delegates.
"My perception [of British design] has certainly expanded," he says. "Largely, that's around the scale and shear diversity of design - and you can see that in the programme that we've experienced... What I've seen first hand is the value of design in the UK. You can see that upfront in economic policy, social policy and the very city you live in - there's a very civic consideration that has design at the basis."
Listen to our Arts podcast, produced in partnership with Soho Radio, to hear Janson and fellow Design Connections delegates Joy Alison Wang (Curator at the Hong Kong Design Institute) and Richars Meza Ruiz (Director at Latin American Design in Peru) reflect on their highlights from the 2016 London Design Festival and our industry networking programme.
You can also find out more about Design Connections on our website.
