Is your organisation ready to embrace business as unusual? You want to embark on transformational change, but have limited resources?
Keynote talks
John Thackara does big-picture keynote talks that have inspired a wide variety of organisations to embark on transformational change. He also chairs events, and people like the way he does question-and-answer interviews with speakers and panels.
If you'd like John speak at or facilitate an event, or do so online, please contact john [at] thackara [d o t com]
. If you need first to propose John as a speaker to your colleagues, here is a printable brochure:
thackara.com/thackara_speaker.pdf
Real-world workshops and project clinics
Collaborative innovation is the way of the future - but it needs to be organised. John prepares and leads workshops and project clinics in which participants work on real-world projects - often with citizens in their own location. John’s formats range from a one hour talk; to half-day (or evening) Explorers Clubs, or Design Clinics; up to Project Reviews that can last two days or more.
Contact: john [at] thackara [d o t c o m]
Project bazaars and festivals
On a larger scale, as Director of Doors of Perception, John also organises larger scale events and festivals in which citizens, designers, and grassroots innovators explore two questions: "what might life in a sustainable world be like?"; and, "what design steps are needed to get us from here, to there?". In recent times, John was programme programme director of Designs of the time (Dott 07) in England, and in 2008 he was commissioner of City Eco Lab at the St Etienne Design Biennial in France. Doors events bring real-world sustainability projects together so they may cross-fertilise, and grow.
Contact: john [at] thackara [d o t c o m]
Blog and Newsletter
John Thackara’s blog is published on the main Doors of Perception site: www.doorsofperception.com
He also publishes a (free) monthly email newsletter.
Here is an archive:
doorsofperception.com/mailinglist/archives
And here is where you may subscribe: doors-report
Books
John’s most recent book (published in October 2007) was the
"manual" of Dott 07. Before that, In the bubble: designing in a complex world was published by MIT Press. Japanese, Italian, Chinese, French and Portuguese editions are being prepared for publication in 2009 and 2010.
www.thackara.com/inthebubble
A complete list of John’s books and publications is at: publications.html
Doors of Perception
Founded as a conference in Amsterdam in 1993, Doors of Perception now organises festivals and projects around the world in which grassroots innovators work with designers to imagine sustainable futures - and take practical steps to realize them.Doors of Perception events connects together paradigm-changing designers, technology innovators, and grassroots innovators. Here is an archive of Doors conferences and encounters since 1993:
www.doorsofperception.com/
Summary cv
John Thackara studied philosophy, and trained as a journalist, before working for ten years as la book and magazine editor. John was the first Director (1993-1999) of the Netherlands Design Institute. He was programme director in 2007 of Designs of the time (Dott 07) a new biennial in North East England. In 2008 he was commissioner of City Eco Lab at Cite du Design in St Etienne, the most important French design biennial. John is a an Associate of The Young Foundation, UK; senior advisor on sustainability to the UK Design Council; and an advisor on sustainability indicators to Agence France Presse. His most recent book, In The Bubble: Designing In A Complex World (MIT Press) will be published in Japanese in 2009. People seem most impressed by the fact that John once drove a London bus.
My bus driver badge
"My" bus
The rest of my cv is to be found at:
cv.html
Downloadable photograph
If you need my photograph for a brochure or publication:
downloadpictures.html