LONDON — The Design Council, the U.K.’s national strategic adviser for design, on Tuesday revealed a new lineup for its expert network that includes fashion designers such as Phoebe English, Anne Prahl, Patsy Perry, Siofra Caherty, Susan Postlewaite, Talia Hussain and others.
With more than 240 practitioners working across all design sectors — with other notable names like architect Michael Pawlyn, environmental designer Finn Harries and culture-tech entrepreneur Suhair Khan — the network aims to help shape policy and advocate for change to demonstrate the power of design to achieve net zero emissions over the next three years, and ultimately guide the U.K. toward a planet-positive and regenerative future.
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English, the Central Saint Martins alum known for her sustainable, darkly romantic creations, said the expert network can contribute to the wider imagination and therefore future possibilities of how “systems could be better reframed and fundamentally redesigned.”
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“We are living in a time of great fragility where many of the systems we have designed, live within and rely on are flawed to the point of threatening all our futures. These urgently need redesigning and I believe the skills of designers, their agility and imagination have never been more important,” she added.
The designer, who launched her label in 2011 and has been operating alongside the traditional fashion system for more than a decade with highs and lows, said thinking carefully about the wider context of the work and sector is key to rethinking how the design sector can be improved.
“Many of the frameworks that the fashion industry consists of are inherited systems and inherited values. The times we now live within are so vastly different from the context of when these came about. It is now time to think very carefully about what systems we choose to replicate and which ones we choose to disinherit,” said English, who last year teamed with the Kentucky-based bourbon-maker Maker’s Mark on an upcycled capsule.
“The ability of designers stretches beyond designing product itself and can and needs to go beyond this alone to include the infrastructure and frameworks to inform better choices and design practice,” she added.
According to Minnie Moll, chief executive officer of the Design Council, the network aims to serve as a key driver in supporting the broadening of the skills and resources needed to galvanize the 1.97 million people working in design in the U.K. to design their way toward net zero practice.
“In the face of the climate crisis, nearly every facet of our lives requires redesigning, and as designers, we wield significant influence and responsibility. Bringing the experts together into a network creates a unique hive mind of collective intelligence that will help the design sector become a transformative asset for the green transition,” Moll said.
She pointed out that the network can help fill the skills gap in the British government’s ambitious targets for decarbonization by 2030.
Recent reports research published by the Design Council showed that while 66 percent of designers have worked on environmental projects in the last 12 months, and 73 percent of them think the demand for environmental design is going to grow, only 43 percent of them think they have the capability to do so.
The network can provide a much-needed point of reference for how design can be used as a force for good for those who are looking for inspiration or solutions, said Moll, adding that the experts are available to collaborate and provide advice, coaching support, and design training amongst other work for the design sector and beyond.
The formation of the expert network also sets the scene for the first return of the World Design Congress to London in more than 50 years.
Taking place at the Barbican Center next year, the 34th World Design Congress — to be hosted by the Design Council with support from U.K. Research and Innovation, the Greater London Authority, the Mayor of London and Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport — will run in conjunction with the London Design Festival, and bring together 1,000 members of the international design community for a two-day program that will include elements such as talks, workshops and exhibitions, showcasing innovative design solutions to the climate crisis from British designers.