Product design buyers can take Britain to the top

I was interested to read Jane Lewis’ Objective View (DW 21 November).

A new culture has evolved within emerging British product design consultancies. They are run and staffed by the people that Mike Ellams, Laurie Cunningham, Chris Rhodes and Lyn Haville want to work with.

However, it clearly takes time for this message to disseminate through the ranks of designers and design buyers. As an emerging company, NGA has worked in this demand driven way for two years. Until recently, we have had most success overseas.

Why? I suspect there was a greater awareness and willingness to embrace the sort of attitude described as necessary by the contributors to this article, coupled with greater openness towards new design groups.

It is therefore great to hear such a powerful new generation of enlightened design buyers telling designers how they prefer to operate, thereby endorsing this apparent change of attitude in the UK product design market (at last). Perhaps we can finally kick the old preconceptions firmly into touch, begin to look at the marketplace as global – not parochial – and show the world British product design has a lot to offer. You never know, in five years time we may even be able to beat the Germans at something.

Nick Griffin

Director

Nick Griffin Associates

London SW18