Tatu Ahlroos was the Chairman for The association of Finnish interior architects SIO until 2021. He held the position for 5 of his 12 years working as a professional in the field of design and architecture. Tatu is currently an Interior Architect at SARC Architects Ltd, who are national leaders in full range of Architectural Design with over 50 years of wide-ranging and diverse experience within the different fields of architectural planning and design. In 2008, Tatu also founded his own company, Taking Care of Design. This is a Helsinki-based design office, working with interiors, graphic design and soundscapes. He holds a Master’s Degree in Interior Architecture from Aalto University. During his studies, he also explored themes of aesthetics, urban planning and spatial design. His master’s thesis focused on dealing with designing urban spaces.

Titi Ogufere is a pioneering designer, design advocate, critical thinker, and visionary. She believes that the potential for design to change society and bring economic development is underrated. Ogufere champions the cause with a relentless drive in breaking boundaries, pushing the agenda of advocacy, sustainability, collaboration, growth, identity discovery, problem-solving, and education. She has received acclaim for her design approach and is at the forefront of the industry in Africa.

Titi is the Creative Director of Essential Interiors Consultancy and CEO of Essential Media Group (EMG), a full-service media company spread across the platforms of Publishing, Events and Digital Media. EMG publishes two leading magazines, organizes a design festival, two highly specialized exhibitions, conferences, an awards program and has published over 25 books including This is Africa: Traditional Design, Modern and Contemporary (2017), In Conversation with Demas Nwoko  (2019) and Vernacular Design: Redefining the Narrative (2019).

Titi is an exceptional creative with an interior design career that began in 2000 and is arguably among the top 10 leaders of the design world in Africa. As a leader and pioneer in the field, she is also the founder of the Interior Designers Association of Nigeria (IDAN) and Design Week Lagos (DWL), West Africa’s first global design festival.

Shashi Caan is a distinguished leader for architectural design Internationally. She is founder and head of her design practice, the SC COLLECTIVE. She is also co-founder and president of Globally We Design – GloWD, an independent design futures activator think-tank. An award-winning designer, her GloWD initiatives facilitated the Universal Design Education Charter (compiled with information from Singapore (2018) and Johannesburg (2019)). Shashi was formerly Associate Partner and Design Director with Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM) in New York and Chair of Interiors at Parsons.

As a volunteer, Shashi serves as CEO on the Executive Committee of the International Federation of Interior Architects/Designers (IFI) Executive Board. A former two-term President of IFI, she has been recognized with professional fellowships by IFI, in the UK, Australia, and the US.

With a BSc(hons) from the Edinburgh University, Shashi holds two masters’ from Pratt institute in Architecture and Industrial Design. Her seminal book Rethinking Design and Interiors (2011) has been translated into several languages, including Chinese.

Architecturally trained in Australia, Joe founded award winning design firm, Designtone after spending more than a decade working at senior level management for international interior design firms. After propelling his previous company to be recognized as one of the Top20 Interior Design firm in the world, Joe established Designtone to seek further creative freedom. His passion has also mooted him to spend time to actively contribute to the interior design academic sphere, where he lectures extensively in design at various colleges and universities in the country. He currently serves as Honorary Treasurer for Malaysian Institute of Interior Designers and has served as a Council Member since 2018.

Victoria Plasencia is an Interior Designer established in México and founder of the firm VP Interiorismo. She has given several conferences, participated  in television programs and her Interior design work has been published in a range of books, newspapers and magazines. She has designed furniture for multiple companies and is a member of several International Architecture and Interior Design Associations. 

A multi-award-winning designer, her firm specializes in tailor-made interior design, which is characterized by creating decorative solutions of a unique nature, which comprehensively address the needs of well-being and comfort of each person, through the spaces they inhabit.

Founder and Principal Designer, Raj Shah, has been involved in the interior design industry for almost 3 decades. Raj has a bachelor’s degree graduate from the University of Florida, USA. Professionally, he is a Fellow Member of the Society of Interior Designers (Singapore) and also serves in the capacity of Honorary Advisor. Raj sees himself as a workspace solutions specialist. He has built-up long-lasting relationships with clients who value his practical approach and meticulous organizational skills. His involvement with all aspects of the design process ensures seamless continuity and problem free completion and handover of all projects he undertakes.

Sezin obtained her Bachelor and Master’s Degrees in Interior Architecture from I. D. Bilkent Universtiy, and a PhD Degree in Architecture/Building Sciences from Middle East Techinical Universtiy, Ankara. From 1999-2008 she worked as an instructor at I. D. Bilkent University; and as a visiting research fellow in the Medial Architecture Research Unit (MARU) in London Southbank Universtiy for their post-doctoral study (2007).

Sezin currently teaches at Bahçeşehir Univesty, Istanbul and was appointed as the Head of the Department of Interior Architecture and Environmental Design in 2009. Her responsibilities as lecturer involve the Degree Project Design Studio, Lighting and Color Application, Professional Practice and Ethics as an undergraduate program; Interior Design Studio (conceptual) and Lighting Design as graduate program.

She has been published in multiple periodicals, compiled select conference paper publications and books. Her research passion is healthcare interiors.

Architect and urbanist, Arthur Guimaraes is CEO at Arthur Guimarães Architects. He developed research for the Architectural Association School of Architecture (London), ETH (Zurich) and Sci-Arc (LA). He has received a Bachelor of Architecture and Urbanism from the Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais (Brazil); Master’s in architecture and Urbanism from the Architectural Association School of Architecture (UK); Specialist in Digital Architecture and Parametric Projects, as well as Specialist in Management in Creative Economy at the Fine Arts University Center of São Paulo (Brazil).

Experienced Designer and Project Director with a demonstrated history of working in the architecture & planning industry on mega projects with some of the best clients and architects in the world. Horton has worked as Project Director at CBRE in Japan since 2016, while also founding and serving as Principal of his own practice, Jason Horton Interiors.

Skilled in mixed-use, hospitality industry, retail, office, construction, comprehensive planning, and management. As a professional, he has demonstrated strong business development; he graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with a BA in Interior Design, and obtained a certificate in construction project management from NYU.