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John Thackara cv (updated July 2009)
A Chronology
B 2000-ongoing: Director, Doors of Perception
C 1993-2000: Director, Netherlands Design Institute
D 1985-1992: Managing Director Design Analysis International
1988-1992: Director of Research, Royal College of Art
E Publications
F Selected keynote speeches
G Appendix: Shouts and Testimonials
Chronology
1951 Born Newcastle Upon Tyne, England
1951-1969 Educated in Newcastle and Marlborough
1970-1974 University of Kent at Canterbury (Philosophy)
1974-1975 Centre for Journalism Studies, Cardiff (Journalism)
1975-1978 Granada Publishing (Commissioning Editor, Architecture)
1979-1980 New South Wales University Press, Sydney (Senior Editor)
1980-1985 Editor, Design, London
1985-1988 Modern Culture Editor, Harpers & Queen
Design Correspondent, The Guardian
Design Correspondent, The Spectator
Correspondent, The Late Show (BBC)
1985-1992 Managing Director, Design Analysis International (London & Tokyo)
1989-1992 Director of Research, Royal College of Art (London)
1993-1999 Director, Netherlands Design Institute (Amsterdam)
2000-2006 Steering Committee, Interaction Design Institute, Ivrea (Italy)
Scientific Committee, Interactive Institute (Sweden)
Expert Advisor, Hong Kong Design Task Force
European Commission Expert (Information Society Technologies)
Coordinating Group Convivio (EU network for social computing)
Advisor, European High Speed Train Network
Member Virtual Platform (The Netherlands)
Board of Advisors, Form Magazine, Germany
2007- Director, Doors of Perception (Amsterdam)
Programme Director, Designs of the time (Dott 07) UK
Commissioner, St Etienne Design Biennial 2008 France
Design Council UK, Senior Advisor on Sustainability
Associate, The Young Foundation (London)
B
2000 ongoing DIRECTOR, DOORS OF PERCEPTION
DOORS OF PERCEPTION CONFERENCE
As conference director and chair
AMSTERDAM
Doors of Perception 1 (1993)
Doors of Perception 2 (1994) Home
Doors of Perception 3 (1995) Info-Eco
Doors of Perception 4 (1996) Speed
Doors of Perception 5 (1998) Play
Doors of Perception 6 (2000) Lightness
Doors of Perception 7 (2002) Flow
Doors of Perception 8 (2005) Infra
INDIA
Doors of Perception East (2000) Design strategies for the internet, Ahmedabad
Doors of Perception East 2 (2003) Design and local knowledge, Bangalore
Doors of Perception 9 (2007) Juice: food systems and design, New Delhi
DOORS OF PERCEPTION PROJECTS
Interaction Design Institute Ivrea
I was a member of start-up team (and of the Steering Committee until the end of 2003) that established this new research institute in Italy, supported by an independent association of major private companies brought together by Olivetti and Telecom Italia. My specific tasks were to help develop and articulate the institute’s basic concept and organisational form; define and articulate the roles of, and benefits to, industry sponsors; organize an international workshop of experts to refine the research programme; write job and person profiles for professors, researchers and students; create and implement launch phase communications and produce inaugural event; organize a workshop for researchers and industry on new business models for interactive products and services. For Panorama, the Institute is “a point of reference for the generation of new ideas and a new design culture.” Prestinenza called Interaction Ivrea “a model for the moribund Italian educational system”. And Francesco Gavazzi, in a cover story for Corriere della Sera, proclaimed that “at Ivrea, students design new ways of interaction between man and technology”.
Hong Kong Design Task Force
I was the expert advisor to the Hong Kong Design Task Force (chair: Victor Lo) which developed a new innovation and research policy for the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. The task force plotted plotting the best way for Hong Kong and China to move up the value chain from a product-based to a service-and-flow based economy. Following the report, Hong Kong launched a "DesignSmart" initiative with the creation of a HK $250million (25 million euros) fund.
Design and Innovation Research Centre (DIEC)
Doors was in a consortium, Spirit of Creation, that developed the specification and blueprint of an important new institution to be based in Newcastle in the North-East of England. Service-design improves the effectiveness and efficiency of service delivery, but no institution in the world currently specialises in the design and engineering of services. DIEC, whose client is One North East, will combine postgraduate courses with real-world research and consulting projects.
Convivio: a new vision for "social computing" in Europe
Doors was responsible for vision building in Convivio – a new EU network for social computing whose members include such leading universities and companies as Xerox, King's College London, Philips, Deutsche Forschunhzentrum fur Kuenstliche Intelligenz, Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Consorzio Roma Ricerche. http://www.convivionet.net/
Virtual Platform
John Thackara served until 2006 as a member of this advisory group to Dutch government on new media cultural policy. http://www.virtueelplatform.nl/
Time In Design (November 2003)
If the throw-away society is over, how do we design for longevity in products and services? Eternally Yours, a Dutch foundation, organised a round-the-clock, 24-hour event to look at this timely question. Eighty different projects, case studies and scenarios - all dealing with time in design – were presented. The event experimented with a range of formats and tempos - from one-minute films, and 100-word lectures, to slow-food dinners and leisurely fireside chats. Doors of Perception and The Long Now Foundation, supported the event by helping with speaker selection and publicity. http://www.eternally-yours.nl/
Quality time at high speed? (May 2004)
What would it mean to design for fast and slow speeds? Today’s high speed train (HST) travel is a marvel of speed and profligate resource consumption. It is transforming the experience of space and time of 13 million travellers who already use it each year – and of citizens who live in places where the trains deign to stop. To fill this gap, the High Speed Network Platform, an association of 15 European regions, and Urban Unlimited, a planning firm, asked Doors of Perception to organise a cultural expert workshop on the theme, “quality time”. The outcomes included project ideas for services and situations that connect people, cultural resources, and places, in new combinations. http://www.hst-network.net/
Design and local knowledge (May 2004)
The Bonholm Rooster, a superior kind of chicken, is a star product on "Food Island". So is the legendary white salmon, a ghostly creature that passes quietly by this misplaced Danish island (it sits between Sweden and Poland) only in winter months. This desolate but fertile spot was the location for the final workshop in Spark!, a service design project in response to the question: when traditional industries disappear from a locality, what is to take their place? (Nexo, on Bonholm, is one of dozens of Baltic and European fishing ports where industrial fishing has become unsustainable). A conference in Oslo, an 5 and 6 May, will review the lessons learned in this experiment, reflect on the concept of "territorial capital", and begin the design of new projects for the future. Innovation experts Charles Leadbeater, Ezio Manzini and Bert Mulder (plus your correspondent) will lead discussions at the event, which will be run on along Open Space lines. A few places remain open for participation by interested designers and place developers. It's free, but you have to register before 20 April.
http://www2.uiah.fi/virtu/spark/conference.html
Want to be a design metropolis? (October 2004)
What is a design metropolis? Should a city aspire to become one? This symposium (which is supported by Doors) casts a critical eye over the policies and programs of Montreal, Saint-Etienne and other aspirant design cities, and will compare them with established international design capitals. Francois Barre (France) and Saskia Sassen (United States) are keynote lecturers (as is your correspondent).There are also presentations from Antwerp, Times Square New York, Lisbon, and Stockholm. The event will be a small-ish affair for municipal and elected officials responsible for urban, cultural and economic development and procurement policies, government officials responsible for design and innovation policies, and people in design organizations responsible for strategy development. The New Design Cities, October 6 and 7, 2004, Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal, Quebec. Contact: <mlacroix@ville.montreal.qc.ca>
Fused space
Can you imagine a way to enable novel and exciting interactions in public space, using new technologies? A first prize of ten thousand euros is at stake in Fusedspace, an international competition organised by Premsela (and supported by Doors) to find inspiring applications for new technology in the public domain. You have to pay 50 euros to enter, but your ideas will be reviewed by a jury which includes editors and writers (Max Bruinsma, Ole Bouman, Charles Leadbeater, Marleen Stikker) and designers and architects (Amy Franceschini, Adam Greenfield, Natalie Jeremijenko, Jouke Kleerebezem, Knowbotic Research. Christian Moeller, Anne Nigten, Franziska Nori, Joachim Sauter). Proposals may be submitted until 1 May 2004. http://www.fusedspace.org
Amsterdam Medical Centre (AMC)
John Thackara was a member until the end of 2004 of a four person think-tank developing concepts for its Director of a next-generation national childrens hospital
Creative Communities (Emude)
I was the advisor (on “how to be a hub”) to a European consortium of design and architecture schools (led by Ezio Manzini) that is building a network of project observatories to track examples of social innovation using ICTs.
In Scotland, a design clinic for entrepreneurs
The Highlands and Islands Development Board, in Scotland, exists to help hundreds of small and medium sized companies, over a very wide geographical area, innovate new products, services, and business models. Doors helped their Inverness office stage design scenario workshops in which entrepreneurs from different companies helped each other envisage radical scenarios and how they might be implemented.
Schiphol Airport: “Air-To-Farm”
Development of a series of service design workshops for the Board of Schiphol Airport, and the Council of Haarlemmermeer, that will develop new services to be delivered by the airport, the region and local entrepreneurs. With Urban Unlimited.
Milan Triennale
Advisor to this exibition and conference organised by Ezio Manzini at the Milan Triennale. "In tomorrow's communities, an obsession with things will replaced by a fascination with events." Manzini ran workshops in Brazil, China, and India to develop new design ideas for the show (the India one with assistance from Doors). A "catalogue of promising solutions" addressed questions that most of us confront: how to take care of people, work, study, move around, find food, eat, and share equipment. http://www.edizioniambiente.it
Creativity and the City
An international conference on "Creativity and the City" was held in Amsterdam's former gas works, Westergasfabriek. Westergasfabriek is the latest urban project to transform a former industrial site into a public and cultural amenity, and it wanted to share the lessons it has learned, and bring together comparable projects from around the world. We supported the event with speaker suggestions and advance publicity and a keynote lecture, “The Post-spectacular city” which has been widely cited. http://www.creatievestad.nl
For 1000 professors – life in the learning economy
How will we learn when knowledge changes so fast? Will there still be a role for teachers, when students can learn for themselves? These questions faced 1,000 university teachers at Oro/Oro: TeachersLab, a unique event organised in January 2001 by the Hogeschool van Amsterdam (Amsterdam University of Professional Education). Doors of Perception organised a three-day conference which featured 36 Dutch and international speakers from inside and outside education.The idea of our client was to help them all get online and up-to-speed on new learning processes by the end of the event. Oro-Oro had a simple structure: information plus inspiration in the morning, hands-on practice in the afternoon – in a software environment designed by our partners in OroOro, Mediamatic.Each of the three days has a theme: ‘Seeking and Finding’; ‘Editing and Interacting’; ‘Teaching and Earning’. http://www.oro.hva.nl
1993-2000: Director, Netherlands Design Institute - Highlights
1999
Presence – European project on elderly and internet
Maypole - European project on social computing
Trespassers - publication on design scenarios for sustainability
Wisselstroom 2 - design scenarios for transport intersections
Kust op de Kaart - website and knowledge map of coastal projects
If/Then - Europe/USA publication of "yearbook of the near future"
1998
Doors of Perception 5 - "play"
O2 Website - for eco-designers worldwide
Lightness – book + lectures
Young Designers and Industry 18 European companies + scenarios
From Practice To Policy - new media conference with Virtual Platform
1997
Design In The Knowledge Economy - seminar series
The Flat Space 2 - screen design futures
European Design Industry Summit
European Design Prize
Winners! - book published
Wisseltroom - design scenarios for the future of mobility
Eternally Yours – conference and book on long-life products
1996
World Internet Expo: Dutch Pavilion
Doors of Perception 4 - "Speed"
Legible City - conference on cities and information
Things That Think : design/business workshops on smart materials
Doors of Perception 4 - 'Speed'
1995
Doors of Perception 3- "Info-Eco"
The Flat Space - exhibition and CDRom of design for electronic screens
The Prototype- workshop series
From Dada To Data, conference, with Virtual Platform & Council of Europe
1994
European Community Design Prize (with EU)
European Design Industry Summit (with EU)
Design Across Europe - report on the European design industry
Toshio Iwai: Media Artist - exhibition for opening of Institute's building
Action-Reaction - exhibition in Japan
Doors of Perception 2 "Home"
Smart Matter - smart materials seminar, with Stedelijk Museum 1993
Tomorrow's Literacies - lectures and exhibition at Frankfurt Book Fair
Eternally Yours - conference and book on product endurance
The New Old report and conference (with UK DesignAge Network)
Materials of Invention: seminar series and book
The Cultural Economy Of The Applied Arts - report
Design And The Culture Industries - international professional meeting
Doors of Perception 1: plus DoP CDRom
Asahi Shimbun (Tokyo) 1987
International symposium on science, innovation and design. With Professor Itsuo Sakane
Axis Gallery (Tokyo) 1987
An exhibition of 'live prototypes', called Leading Edge, in which 40 designers created prototypes with support from manufacturers. Shown in Tokyo and Osaka .
European Commission (Paris) 1989
Interactivity and Environments (Paris and Inverness) 1989 Centre Europeenne de Technoculture international conferences, with University of Paris VIII
Centre Pompidou, Paris 1989
Image and Object - Nouveau Design de Londres featured in the Centre Pompidou exhibition and catalogue series 'The Avant Gardes of Europe'. With Japan Airlines.
Alfred Dunhill Limited London and Klondike 1989
The Englishman's Companion Exhibition for Dunhill on its 80th anniversary; curated by Jonathan Glancey and designed by Nigel Coates
British Medical Association, London 1989
Mirror of Medicine Exhibition for the 150th anniversary the British Medical Journal;
curator Peter Dormer
British Broadcasting Corporation 1990
Research and commentator on the BBC Design Awards programmes in 1990, 1992.
Architectural Association, Brussels and London 1992
T-Zone Exhibition of Japanese architecture and video, with Riiche Miyake, also at the
Tramway Gallery in Glasgow.
Mitsui, Tokyo 1991
Crafts In Architecture A series of exhibitions for architects on such topics as hand-made
paper, and textiles.Produced with Peter Dormer
Interieur, Kortrijk, Belgium 1990
Furniture Avant Gardes A collection of prototypes for Interieur's 1990 centerpiece exhibition.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Vienna, Leipsig, Turin, Brussels) 1992
The Inventive Spirit, a touring art, technology and design exhibition, was a Brussels centrepiece during Britain's six-month EC Presidency. Peter Dormer curated. Victoria and Albert Museum London 1992
Sovereign Research and procurement (in ten months, from start to opening) of the national exhibition at the to commemorate The Queen's 40th anniversary as sovereign. Designed by Pentagram.
Alfred Dunhill Limited London and Klondike 1989
The Englishman's Companion Exhibition for, on its 80th anniversary; curated by Jonathan Glancey and designed by Nigel Coates
British Broadcasting Corporation 1990
Research and commentator on the BBC Design Awards programmes in 1990, 1992.
Architectural Association Brussels, and London 1992
"T-Zone" Exhibition of Japanese architecture and video, with Riiche Miyake, also at the Tramway Gallery in Glasgow. Grand Prix winner at Design Week awards.
Harrods, London 1991
An Edwardian Christmas Historical and art direction for Harrods' Edwardian Christmas.
Mitsui, Tokyo 1991
Crafts In Architecture A series of exhibitions for architects on such topics as hand-made paper, and textiles.Produced with Peter Dormer
Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Vienna, Leipsig, Turin, Brussels) 1992
touring art, technology and design exhibition. The Inventive Spirit was a Brussels centrepiece during Britain's six-month EC Presidency. Peter Dormer curated.
Victoria and Albert Museum London 1992
Sovereign Research and procurement of the national exhibition at the to commemorate The Queen's 40th anniversary as sovereign.Sovereign was oganised by The Royal Anniversary Trust; curated by John Julius Norwich and Christopher Frayling; created by The Royal College of Art
(Sir Jocelyn Stevens); and designed by Pentagram. In ten months, from start to opening.
E1 Books
E2 Chapters Contributed To Books
E3 Website, Newsletter , Blog
Clean Growth: From Mindless Development to Design Mindfulness, Innovation White Paper 1/6, Series Editor Stuart Madonald, The Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, 2009
Wouldn't It be Great If... Designs of The Time Manual,
John Thackara.
London, Design Council, 2007.
In the Bubble: Designing in a Complex World.
Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press, 2005
http://www.thackara.com/inthebubble/index.html
Translations:
French edition : In the Bubble, de la complexité au design durable, Publication de l’univer sité de St Etienne, Cité du Design éditions
Brazilian edition: Plano B - Plan B - In the bubble by John Thackara
http://www.virgilia.com.br/category/design-by-thackara/
Italian edition : In the Bubble Design Per un Futuro Sostenibile, Editore Allemandi, 2008
Dutch Edition: In the Bubble: Designing in a Complex World SUN, 2009
Japanese edition: SibaAccess, 2009
India edition: PrenticeHall, 2008
China edition: Commonwealth Taiwan, Chinese complex character edition) 2009
The New Geographies of Learning. Amsterdam: University of Professional Education (HvA), 2003
Winners! How Europe's Most Successful Companies Use Design To Innovate.
London: Ashgate, 1999
Lost In Space: A Traveler's Tale, Haarlem: De Grafische Haarlem, 1994
DoP Rom (Doors of Perception CDRom; co-editor) Amsterdam: Mediamatic, 1994
Architects' Data: Handbook of Building Types, Ernst Neufert, (ed John Thackara, Vincent Jones) London Wiley, 1992
T-Zone (co-edited with Riiche Miyake) Brussels: Europalia
(in association with Architectural Association) 1991
Leading Edge (ed) Tokyo: Axis 1990
Image and Object: Nouveau Design de Londres (ed). Paris: Centre Pompidou, 1990
Design After Modernism: Beyond the Object (ed), London: Thames and Hudson, 1988
Design After Modernism (Japanese edition, revised). Tokyo: Kajima, 1992
New British Design. Co-edited with Stuart Jane. London: Thames and Hudson, 1987
E2 Chapters Contributed To Books
Make Sense Not Stuff: A Three Step Plan To Connbect Design Schools With The Green Economy, in Cumulus Working Papers Saint-Etienne, edited by Joysane Franc et al, University of Art and Design Helsinki, 2009
The Innovator Next Door, in "What Matters", McKinsey Quarterly 2009
http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com http://whatmatters.mckinseydigital.com/
Innovation by design in public services, Emily Thomas, ed, Design Council / Solace 2009
Beyond The Sustainable: What would architecture be like after the point of zero carbon emission and peak oil? Edited by Piet Vollard.
http://www.facultiesforarchitecture.org/pdfs/book05.pdf
L’Îlot d’Amaranthes: Emanuel Louisgrand, Editions Roger Tator, 2008
http://www.rogertator.com/news/catalogueilot.pdf
Biennale internationale design Saint-Etienne de Collectif, ed. Constance Rubini, Cité du Design 2008
http://biennalesaint-etienne.citedudesign.com/
Megacities 10: Towards The Megacities Solution.
http://www.megacities.nl/congress/comgressproceedings.pdf
Collaborative Services: Social Innovation and Design for Sustainability, Francois Jegou, ed, Editore: POLI. DESIGN 2008, http://www.hoepli.it/
Bessere Zukunft? Auf Der Suche Nach Den Raumen Von Morgen.
Friedrich von Borries, Matthias Böttger, Florian Heilmeyer B: Merve Verlag, Berlin, 2008
Shaping Things, Bruce Sterling,
http://mitpress.mit.edu/shaping_webtake/
Design and the growth of knowledge P J Stappers, Delft (NL) Delft University of Technology 2006
Benthem|Crouwel Architects. 1980-2000 Rotterdam, Uitgeverij 010, 1999.
Uncommon Ground: Creative Encounters Across Sectors and Discplines. eds Cathy Brickwood, Bronac Ferran. BS Publishers. Amsterdam 2006
Experimenta February 2007 (page 155) Interview with John Thackara
Designers, Visionaries and Other Stories
Ed Jonathan Chapman. Forward, London, Earthscan, 2008
(Re-) searching a digital bauhaus. Eds Thomas Binder, Jonas Löwgren and Lone Malmborg. Malmo, November 2008
Contole geven of nemen: een politieke agenda voor de informatie-samenleving. Krijn van Beek et al, eds.Infodrome / Otto Cramwinckel Uitgever, Amsterdam. 2001
Beyond Media: Architecture and Video. Marco Brizzi and Paola Giaconia, eds. Editrice Compositori, Firenze. 2002
Creativity and the City. Amsterdam: Westergasfabriek, 2003
How To Be A Hub (Proceedings of Cumulus St Petersburg). Helsinki, UIAH, 2004
The Killer App Is Green. In Proceedings of NIC2001. New York: ACM, 2001
Next (Venice Architecture Biennale). D Sudjic, ed. Venice, 2003
Kaos Pilots A-Z. Uffe Elbek, ed. Aarhus: KaosPilots, 2004
Spark! Design And Local Knowledge. (Co-edited with Jan Verwijnen). Helsinki, UIAH|European Commission, 2004
Creativity and the City. Edited by Simon Franke and Evert Verhagen. NAi Publishers (Rotterdam) 2005
(Re-) searching a digital bauhaus. Eds Thomas Binder, Jonas Löwgren and Lone Malmborg. Malmo, November 2008
The design challenge of pervasive computing. Interactions archive
http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=369832
Lost In Space
http://proxy.arts.uci.edu/thackara.html
chapter contributions pre-2000
Eva Jiricna. London: Architectural Association, 1988
Daniel Weil. London: Architectural Association, 1988
Narrative Architecture Today. London : NATO Publications | Air Gallery, 1990
Urban Design Strategy For 2000, Tokyo: Tokyu / Kajima, 1990
Metropolis, ed Janet Abrams. London: Institute for Contemporary Arts, 1991
Formes des Metropoles, ed F Burkhardt. Paris, Centre Pompidou, 1992
Tokyo Design Visions, Toyo Ito, ed. London: Victoria & Albert Museum, 1992
Business by Design, John Kao ed. New York, Allworth, 1995
Edge of the Millenium, Susan Yelavitch ed. New York, Cooper Union, 1995
Eternally Yours. Ed van Hinte ed. Rotterdam: 010, 1997
Workspheres. Paola Antonelli, ed. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1998
The Style Engine. Giannino Malossi ed. New York: Chronicle, 1998
From Dada To Data. Amsterdam: Virtual Platform, 1998
Airport, Jeremy Miller and Michiel Schwarz eds. London: Photographers Gallery, 1998
Presence: Elders Online, Amsterdam: Netherlands Design Institute, 1999
New Media Culture In Europe, C Brickwood ed. Amsterdam: de Balie, 1999
If/Then, Janet Abrams ed. New York: DAP, 1999
Tresspassers, C Bakker and Ed van Hinte, eds. Rotterdam: 010, 1999
New Media New Narratives? Anne Burdick ed. New York: American Center for Design, 2000
The Design Challenge Of Pervasive Computing (Proceedings of CHI2000). New York, ACM: 2000
New Media: From Practice To Policy, Amsterdam: DeBalie | Council Of Europe, 1999
Doors of Perception (blog)
Online since 1994, the Doors website is visited by 800,000 people each year.
Blog since 2004.
www.doorsofperception.com
Doors of Perception Report (email newsletter)
Monthly since March 2002.
www.doorsofperception.com/mailinglist
2009
Graz, Austria, Creative Industries Styria
London, Royal Society of Arts, Design Directions, Jury Chair
Hasselt, Belgium, Design Platform Euregio
Vancouver, Interaction Design Association (IxDA)
Palo Alto, Ideo
Palo Alto, Stanford University (Banny Banerjee)
Los Angeles, The Planning Center
London, BBC Radio 4, All Out Productions
Tenerife, Proceder (Canary Islands Biennial)
Nice, AgorAzur
New York, The New School, Into The Open
Paris, ENSAD
Linz, Austria, DOM, Creating Desired Futures
Helsinki, Pixelache
Helsinki, Aalto University
Oslo, NorskForm, National Architecture Policy Forum
Lyon, France, Design Platform Rhone Alps
Marseille, LIFT
The Hague, Foodprinting The City (Stroom)
Munich, Go Magic Marketing Day (Journal International)
Lisbon, SIX International Summer School on Social Innovation
London, Imperial College (Clare Brass)
Poznan, Poland, Design Summit
Milan, Design Library
London, Victoria and Albert Museum, 2012 Design Imperative
Halifax Nova Scotia, Sustainable Regional Development Forum
Tokyo, Musashino University 80th Anniversary
Sao Paulo, Monumento
Sao Paulo, Brazil, International Summit on Sustainable Design
Buenos Aires, Argentina, Business Design Summit
Avignon, France, Forum d’Avignon
2008
London, Royal Society of Arts, Jury Chair
Dusseldorf, Cognis Innovation Summit
Nordwijk, The Netherlands, Redevco Annual Meeting
Bath, University of Bath
Newcastle, UK, Dott 07 Explorers Club
Helsinki, Pixelache University
Delft, TU Delft, Why Factory
Orleans, France, Ateliers d’Avril
Bonn, Germany, T-Mobile Innovation Round Table
Torino, Italy, Changing The Change
Venice, Venice Architecture Biennial (Dutch pavilion) ArchiPhoenix
Marseille, European Carton Manufacturers Association
Bordeaux, European Forum on Architecture Policy
St Etienne, Biennial Cite du Design, City Eco Lab
Delft, The Neterlands, Megacities Congress
Aarhus, Denmark, Smart Space Conference
London, House of Parliament, Dott 07 Presentation
2007
Ann Arbor, Unversity of Michigan, Global Place
Amsterdam, workshop for Board of Schiphol Airport
Istanbul, TNT strategy conference
London, BBC Design Conference
New Delhi, Doors 9
London, Discovery Museum Great Debate
London, Parliament, Dott
Milano, launch event of Geodesign
London, Design Council, Service Design
Newcastle, Newcastle College Graduation Awards Ceremony
Stanford, Stanford D-School
Pasadena, Art Center
Bristol, Offload
London, Greening of Design
Amsterdam, PICNIC jury
Gateshead, Dott Festival
Gateshead, Intersections
Aberdeen, Value of Creativity
Eindhoven, Design Academy lecture + masterclass
Milan, Art and Industry
Amsterdam, The Beach
Sao Paulo, AHRC Creativity Conference
Sao Paulo, Creative Industries Conference
Sao Paulo, Banco Real
Sao Paulo, Doors of Perception/IDDS workshop
Eindhoven, Tectonics, TU Eindhoven
London, Exposure, Sony
2006
Helsinki, Creatve Communites and Innovation
Sunderland, AV Festival
New York, Event Design Forum
Newcastle, Dott Explorers Club
New York, New Museum, Museum as Hub Symposium,
Aspen, Aspen Design Conference (chair)
Madrid King, Juan Carlos University For High Studies Felipe II,
Frankfurt, German Design Council
Lancaster, Rural Design Forum
Amsterdam, Virtual Platform Conference
Beijing, Social Innovation Peking
London, Royal Society of Arts + V+A
Gateshead, Creative Clusters
Gothenberg, Boras Summt, Design of Prosperity
London, Design Council, Compettiveness Summit
Newcastle, Dott 07, Pecha Kucha
Helsinki, UIAH, Creative Communities and Innovation
Leeds, DesignLeeds, Inaugural Event,
London, Bartlett School of Architecture, Speed
Washington DC : Idea / Business Week Jury
Jerusalem, Jerusalem Forum for Design
New York, New Museum, Museum as Hub
Amsterdam, Cross Media Week, Picnic
Amsterdam, Virtual Platform, Communities of Practice
Amsterdam, Dutch Advertising Association, Resource Ecologies
2005
London, Demos Service Innovation (chair)
Lisbon, Experimenta, Designers In The Age Of Fear
Amsterdam, DasArts, Design and Social Enterprise
London, Design Museum Learning Environments
Rome, The Mortara Seminar, Active Welfare
London, Victoria & Albert Museum , Design and Development
Copenhagen, national broadcasting industry congress,
Cincinnati, Procter & Gamble, Clay Street Desigtn Seminar
Arnhem, Virtual Platform, Archival Knowledge Design
Delft, Technical University, Where Next in Design Research?
Seoul, Korea, Korea National Design Congress , Keynote
London, Royal Society of Arts, Design and Development
2004
Berlin, Transmediale
London, World Creative Forum
Nexo, Spark
Amsterdam, Conviviality and Care
Montreal, New Design Cities
Amsterdam, Schiphol Airport, Social Services
Breda, European High Speed Train Network, Quality Time
Birmingham, Content Lab
Amsterdam, Project Leaders Round Table
Vienna, CHI, dialogue with Bill Buxton
Oslo, Spark
2003
Amsterdam Fashion Institute
Valdambra, Italy, Spark!
Hong Kong, Design Week
Aarhus, Aarhus School of Architecture
Aarhus, University of Aarhus, Denmark WorkSpace
Copenhagen, Danish Design Centre
London, Cap Gemini Innovation Workshop, Belief in design,
Tallinn, Design and local knowledge
NarvaJoesuu, Estonia, Spark!
Rotterdam, Mobility Biennale
London, Design Council, Strategy Review
Santorini, Tales of The Disappearing Computer
Bologna, Ivan Illich seminar
Ivrea, Interaction Design Institute Ivrea
Tokyo, Musashino Art Universit
Tokyo, Japan Industrial Design Promotional Organization
Rome, Convivio Summer School
Helsinki, ECSCW
Amsterdam, Creativity and the City
Glasgow, Lighthouse, Learning cities and how to design them
Eindhoven, Eternally Yours, Time in design
Rotterdam, Space, place and hybridity, NAI
Brussels, European Commission, Beaulieu Seminar
Amsterdam, E-culture Fair (chair)
St. Petersburg, Cumulus Congress, How to be a hub
Aarhus, School of Architecture, Master Class
Milan, Visions of Possible Worlds
Bangalore, Design and local knowledge, DoorsEast
2000-2003 selection
CITIES, REGIONS, GOVERNMENTS
The Post-Spectacular City: New Design Cities, Montreal
How To Be A Hub: Cumulus Congress, St Petersburg
Learning Cities And How To Design Them : Scottish Enterprise, Glasgow
File Sharing As Learning: Infodrome (Cabinet Office) Den Haag
Smart Cities: Design Alliance, Guggenheim Bilbao
Service Design And Local Knowledge: Spark! - Tallinn, Narva-Joessu, Valdambra, Forssa
Edge Cities: Millennium City Design, Athens
Cultural Engineering: Design And The Culture Industries, Amsterdam
Cities As Software: Formes Des Metropoles, Paris
City Design As Software Design: Business City Design, Osaka
PROFESSIONS, RESEARCH, PUBLIC SECTOR
Thermodynamics Of Collaboration
European Conference On Computer Supported Collaborative Work, Helsinki
Design And Local Knowledge
The Design Council Strategy Review, London
Vision For Convivio
Tales Of The Disappearing Computer, Santorini, Greece
The Law Of Locality
Netherlands Architecture Biennale, Rotterdam
The Killer App Is Green
Nordic Interactive Congress (NIC2001), Copenhagen
Pure Play Or Pure Pain?
Interaction Design Institute Ivrea, Italy
Designing Interactive Systems
DIS2000 Conference Co-Chair, New York
Napster As Knowledge
“OroOro”, University Of Professional Education, Amsterdam
Design Strategies For The Internet
Interaction Design Institute, Ivrea
New Geographies Of Learning
University Of Professional Education, Amsterdam
The Design Challenge Of Pervasive Computing
CHI2000, Den Haag
Connected Communities
Advance For Design, Santa Fe
Lost In Space: A Traveller’s Tale
Netherlands Architecture Institute, Rotterdam
Customisation And Connectivity
European Design Summit, Paris
Can We Count On Connectivity?
Aspen Design Conference
Design As An Instrument Of Innovation
European Design Industry Summit, Amsterdam
Innovation Futures
Grand Palais Seminar, Paris
BUSINESS
Belief In Design,
Cap Gemini, London
New Business Models For Interactive Telecommunications
Telecom Italia / Interaction Design Institute, Ivrea
The Design Challenge Of Connectivity
Confederation Of Indian Industry, Bangalore
In The Bubble: Innovation And Design
Chamber Of Commerce, Frankfurt
Nine Surprising New Roles For FM
Int’l Facilities Management Conf, London:
New Challenges For Industrial Design
Olivetti (100th Anniversary) Ivrea
Knowledge Management - The New Alchemy
Cable + Wireless, Geneva
Design And Innovation Strategy
IBM European Design Mentor Seminar, Brussels
Design As Instrument Of Innovation
Asahi Shimbun, Turning Point Seminar, Tokyo
Design Management Of Luxury Brands
Comite Colbert Seminar, Paris
The Devil’s New Machine? The Internet And Connectivity
Xerox, Geneva
Hybrid Aviation Spaces
Japan Airlines Main Board, Tokyo
CULTURE, ARTS, NGOs
From New To Now
Transmediale, Berlin
Always On - And After?
Time In Design | Eternally Yours, Eindhoven
“Immoderator”
International Browserday, Paradiso, Amsterdam
Location And Locative Media
“iMage”, Architecture And Media, Florence
The World As Spread-Sheet
Fabrica, Venice
Workspheres
Museum Of Modern Art, New York
Immateriality In Architecture
T-Zone, London and Glasgow (with AA)
The Habit Of Pleasure: Consumption And Creativity
Edge Of The Millennium, Cooper Union, New York
Image And Object
Centre Pompidou, Paris
Ecology Of The Artificial Environment
ICSID Congress, Milan Triennale, Milan
Design After Modernism
Axis Gallery, Tokyo
Appendix: Shouts and Testimonials
In book publishing and the theatre "shouts" are the enthusiastic quotations that appear on a book's cover, or on billboards outside the venue. The words selected do not always reflect the intention of the person who wrote them - but both sides usually consider it to be a harmless game that people play to sell books or tickets. Read the following “shouts” (or not) in the same spirit.....
The Guardian
"one of the most important people in technology design"
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/talk_time_john_thackara
TIMES OF INDIA
(Headline: "Designers can transform assets into eco-friendly services..."
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Designers_can_transform_assets_into_eco-friendly_services/
KCRW Los Angeles
(Headline: Only in LA! A 'Green' Gas Station and Trash-as-Animals)
Frances Anderton talks to design world leaders about the latest in products, fashion, graphics, architecture and more, in Los Angeles and beyond.
http://www.kcrw.com/people/thackara_john
Business Week
(Headline: Driving Sustainable Design) "John Thackara looks at daily life as a design opportunity and tackles social issues in small doses"
http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/jul2007/id2007072_085897.htm?chan=innovation_innovation+%2B+design_top+stories
Scientific American
(Headline: Does speed really make our life better?)
Should our society be examining new paths to development that do not force our lives to run faster and faster?
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?
Metropolis
(Headline: John Thackara’s Network of New Thinking)
"John Thackara, former director of the Netherlands Design Institute, has spent the past decade championing smart design with a conference series, website, and global network—based in Amsterdam and Bangalore—called Doors of Perception"
http://www.metropolismag.com/cda/story.php?artid=1737
Business Week
(Headline: Cutting Edge Designers).
"John Thackara, working at the intersection of business, technology, sustainability, and design, looks at daily life as a design opportunity...." http://images.businessweek.com/thackara/
Fast Company
(Headline: Best Books of 2005)
"As much as we're living in the age of a design renaissance, we're also awash in a lot of bad design. A compelling manifesto against the "schlock of the new" and a passionate argument for more simple, but powerful design.
http://blog.fastcompany.com/fast_companys_best_books.html
Wired
It Ain't Easy Being Light. green doesn't need to be a dirty word.
http://wired-vig.wired.com/culture/
San Francisco Chronicle
"a visionary voice for the wired era.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?
Computer World
"...a technology visionary"
http://www.computerworld.com/managementtopics
The Observer (UK)
(Headline: Politics of the drawing board) "....designing flows and connections'
http://observer.guardian.co.uk
Blueprint (UK)
"who'd have thought we'd start 2008 with the most important figures in British design getting steamed up over vegetables?" January 2008, Page 13 (editorial)
IN THE BLOGOSPHERE
“… top dog in the space of flows”
RHIZOME (USA) http://www.heise.de/tp/english/inhalt/konf/4421/1.html
“resets the bottom line for design intelligence.”
KLOOIJ (NETHERLANDS) http://www.klooj.net/
"always provocative and intelligent..."
CORE77 (USA) http://www.core77.com/chicago99/sat.html
“a business provocateur….”
FAST COMPANY (USA)
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/36/ifaqs.html
“a design luminary….”
WIRED (USA)
http://www.wired.com/
“a distinguished thinker and visionary…”
DOMUS MAGAZINE (Italy)
"has established a global reputation as a cutting edge design expert"
WALL STREET JOURNAL
“… top dog in the space of flows”
RHIZOME (USA)
http://www.heise.de/tp/english/inhalt/konf/4421/1.html
"fascinating...best practice as the smartest way to beat the competition"
FINANCIAL TIMES (lead review of Winners! )
“a wired era visionary….”
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE (USA)
http://sfgate.com
"(insights on) innovation that contributes to Europe's new identity"
LE MONDE, France
“We used to think that innovation starts where technology starts. That's changing now”
INSTITUTE FOR THE FUTURE (USA)
http://future.iftf.org/2005/05/john_thackara_i.html
“design principles that will characterize cutting-edge opportunities for a better future”
ENERGY BULLETIN
http://www.energybulletin.net/5314.html
“resets the bottom line for design intelligence.”
KLOOIJ
http://www.klooj.net/
"brilliant insights into the internet and sustainability"
ECONOMIC TIMES OF INDIA
"a brilliant lecture on the post-spectacular city...."
SMART CITY RADIO
http://smartcityradio.blogspot.com/2003_11_02_smartcityradio_archive.html
"texting to a higher plane...."
DEMOS
http://www.demosgreenhouse.co.uk/archives/2003_09.html
" one of the leaders of opinion in the field of European design"
JAPAN INDUSTRIAL DESIGN PROMOTION ORGANISATION
http://www.jidpo.or.jp/designnews
"always provocative and intelligent..."
CORE77
http://www.core77.com/chicago99/sat.html
"an internationally renowned scholar...."
http://www.k3.mah.se/forskning
"I eagerly devoured every last page of John Thackara's lofty, captivating book."
-- Bruce Sterling, author of The Hacker Crackdown and Tomorrow Now: Envisioning the Next Fifty Years
"Design with a conscience: that's the take-home message of this important, provocative book. John Thackara, long a major force in design, now takes on an even more important challenge: making the world safe for future inhabitants. We need, he says, to design from the edge, to learn from the world, and to stop designing for, but instead design with. If everyone heeded his prescriptions, the world would indeed be a better place. Required reading -- required behavior."
-- Don Norman, Nielsen Norman Group, author of Emotional Design
"Thackara's deeply informed book presents a breathtaking new map of the design landscape. With not a whisper of evangelistic zeal, In the Bubble offers an engaging narrative as well as design principles that speak to sustainability, joy, and quality of life in increasingly complex times."
-- Brenda Laurel, author of Utopian Entrepreneur, chair of the Graduate Media Design Program at Art Center College of Design
"Whatever you are designing, you will want to keep this book next to you. When you are wondering what to design, you will want to pick it up and browse through it again, to remind you of all the new possibilities for design. When you worry if your design is good enough, you will want to check through the passages that you have marked, to be sure that you have provided for all the complexities that count. When you have an 'Aha!' and are confident that your design is great, you will want to check that you have matched the attributes of 'Flow.' When you have an idle moment, you will want to read through the notes, which are a good book about design in themselves."
-- Bill Moggridge, Cofounder, IDEO
"If there is one pervasive criticism of global capitalism that cuts across all ideologies, it is this: goods have become more important and are treated better than people. We are producing higher quality computers than children. John Thackara's brilliant book about quotidian design describes design innovation driven by social fiction instead of science fiction. This is design focused on what Fernand Braudel called 'everyday life': the demands and pleasures of caring for others, raising children, meaningful work, and journeying. These inspired and innovative technologies return people to the heart of the world and help them create a fulfilling life."
-- Paul Hawken, Natural Capital Institute, author of The Ecology of Commerce
"We all envy John Thackara's digestive system. He is able to take in the most disparate events, locations, trends, and apparent minutiae and deliver back a synthesis of the way the world moves for the use of designers and of those who use design as a powerful life-forming tool. And to help us swallow what might otherwise be too abstract a meal, he serves it to us with parables that make the book not only an enriching but also a fun read."
-- Paola Antonelli, Curator of Architecture and Design, The Museum of Modern Art
"One of Thackara's powerful concepts is that of the macroscope: instead of a microscope, which allows us to see tiny things, we need instruments to see distributed, long-term phenomena that pass unnoticed amidst the nonstop distractions of a modern go-go culture. In the Bubble is just such a macroscope, a deeply reflective meditation on the underlying changes in the structure of globalized society, and a revelation about what designers can do to make that shifting structure more robust and sustainable."
-- J. C. Herz, author of Joystick Nation
“The future is created at the intersection of business, technology, design, and culture. In the Bubble is an insightful and delightful explanation of this nexus and of how each force affects the others. Designers often miss a great deal in their educations about the real people who will use and inhabit their work. Thackara astutely illuminates a lot of what designers don’t know they’re missing.”
--Nathan Shedroff, author of Experience Design
“‘To do things differently, we need to perceive things differently,’ John Thackara writes. I agree! In the Bubble is the first strong, thoroughly documented statement on the importance of the local and the embedded in our fluid, hyper-connected world. A fundamental contribution to a new design culture.”
--Ezio Manzini, Milan Polytechnic, author of The Material of Invention and Sustainable Everyday