14 February 2008

Robin Levien has long been acknowledged as an expert in industrial ceramics. His taps and toilets are legendary, particularly for UK bathrooms company Ideal Standard, for which he became non-executive

The jury is still out on what the long-term effect of the 2008 European Capital of Culture tag will have on Liverpool. After all, the year and its attendant events

When Gwyn Miles quit the Victoria & Albert Museum just over two years ago to become director of Somerset House, she took on a daunting task.

Ravi Naidoo has made it into the Hot 50 listing before for his work in promoting global design within South Africa. He identified design as a generator for change in

The untimely death at 64 last September of Dame Anita Roddick brought great sadness to all who had known her. A battler all her life – for environmental, health and

The Royal College of Art hasn’t made it into the Hot 50 previously. Its high-profile rector Professor Sir Christopher Frayling, now also chairman of the beleaguered Arts Council, made the

If anyone merits public recognition, it is surely Anthony Simonds-Gooding. A charismatic figure, he has straddled advertising and design for much of his career, as a client, at BSkyB and

When the Victoria & Albert Museum celebrated its 150th birthday some years ago, talk was of the crossover between commerce and culture anticipated by Victorian philanthropists and industrialists. Even they,

Organisers of Scotland’s Six Cities Design Festival are still considering how to take the venture forward, but they should be applauded on what they achieved first time round. It ran

If a knighthood doesn’t qualify you for a place in the Hot 50, it would be difficult to know what does. An award in the New Year’s Honours List therefore