March 16, 2020

2020 IFI CONGRESS

Design, by its nature, addresses the next and the new. Often at the forefront and pushing frontiers,  designers responsibly shape social culture using imagination and creativity for physical and environmental interventions. Ideally, interpreting and rethinking the design brief to freshly address challenges for supportive solutions, creatives move beyond everyday problems, to rewrite our today and tomorrow by design.

IFI DESIGN 2050: Technology. Design. Education, explored design’s three foundational criteria to discuss and debate the future of design and its potential to impact human development and well-being into the 21st century.

Thank you to all those that attended the 2020 IFI CONGRESS to contribute to this important critical conversation concerning our collective future. This two-day event served as a crucial platform for the global Interiors community to exchange ideas and questions about the complexities of our future in the disciplines of technology, education and design.

 
 
“Technology is the answer, but what was the question?”
DR. ASHLEY HALL, ROYAL COLLEGE OF THE ARTS
 
“Designers must rediscover the dreams of changing the world through design.”
ARTURO DELL’ACQUA BELLAVITIS, MILAN TRIENNALE FOUNDATION AND EXPOSITION (FORMER)
 
“What could be more complex than redesigning how we live on Earth?”
ROSANNE SOMERSON, RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN
 
“Past forward is the idea of 2050.”
DR RAVI KUMAR RAVINDRA, VENKATARAMANAN ASSOCIATES
 
“We are all connected through culture.” 

SONIA ASHOOR, SACD

 

2020 IFI CONGRESS KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Ashley Hall, Ph.D., Professor of Design Innovation at The Royal College of Art – RCA (UK) presented a diverse range of projects to illustrate how designers are exploring new opportunities for tackling complex technology issues, ranging from designing AI to the Belt and Road initiative through to the future of flying. Hall pressed for the need to retain human led experiences at the center of innovation, to ensure technology is harnessed to meet society’s needs, rather than society simply adapting to technological advances.

Arturo Dell’Acqua Bellavitis, Professor of Industrial Design at Politecnico di Milano (Italy) discussed the impacts of international mobility on regional design skills. With young designers increasingly drawn to centers of major building development, Bellavitis explored the social and economical impacts resulting from this global brain, and the role of education in retaining locally-responsive design practice.

Rosanne Somerson, President, Rhode Island School of Design – RISD (USA) addressed the complexities of designing in an age of complex social, ecological and economical needs, and the important role culture makers play in rethinking how we live on Earth. Somerson examined the need for art and design schools to overhaul their mission and teaching methods, transforming creative practice and ensuring the most critical needs of our time are being addressed.

Keynote speakers also included Dr. Ravi Kumar Ravindra, Design Director at Venkataramanan Associates (India) and Sonia Ashoor, Founder & Principal, SACD (Bahrain).

Panelists and Moderators featured: Randy Howder, Managing Director, Gensler San Francisco (USA); Daniel Joppert, Director of Marketing at Objeto Brasil (Brazil); Alice Rawsthorn, Design Critic and Writer (UK); Susan Szenasy, Director of Design Innovation at Metropolis Magazine (USA); Paul Tange, Senior Principal Architect and Chairman at Tange Associates (Japan); and Woody Yao, Director, Zaha Hadid Design – ZHD (UK).

Originally shared via IFI’s newsletter on March 16th, 2020, accessible here.
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For more information or to ask a question, please contact IFI Headquarters at staff@ifiworld.org