Pearce and Lippa elected partners in Pentagram

Harry Pearce (pictured) and Domenic Lippa will become partners in Pentagram Design as of this October.

The Twickenham-based designers were formally anointed as partners-elect at the Pentagram international partners meeting held at the Hotel Bristol in Paris two weeks ago. Also attending the retreat were the four surviving Pentagram founders: Alan Fletcher, Colin Forbes, Kenneth Grange and Mervyn Kurlansky.

It is not yet clear whether Lippa Pearce will be moved lock, stock and barrel into Pentagram’s Westbourne Grove office, or whether there will be any restructuring of the group.

Pentagram partner Daniel Weil confirmed the appointment of Pearce and Lippa to Design Week on Friday, and suggests that other partner appointments in London could be on the cards.

‘We are very pleased to welcome Harry and Domenic,’ says Weil. ‘Pentagram is about the people. You come to Pentagram for the people and because Pentagram is a platform for the unexpected.’

‘We are constantly looking [for potential partners]. We know, of course, that there are lots of people out there,’ Weil adds.

Weil thinks Pearce and Lippa will fit easily into the multidisciplinary design consultancy and says they will be highly complementary to Pentagram’s cohort of partners around the world.

Lippa Pearce has longstanding links with Pentagram. Pearce was one of John McConnell’s protégés and was tipped to replace him as external design advisor at Boots the Chemists. McConnell, who acted as managing partner in London, stepped down last March, but continues to be a shareholder in the business, retaining a desk at Needham Road (DW 20 January 2006).

Lippa Pearce’s inauguration into Pentagram follows what appears to have been a critical re-examination of the business. It comes amid reports that Pentagram’s US-based partners have been exerting pressure on their London counterparts to step up the profitability of the London office, which filed a marginal loss last year.

It has been reported that as many as three of the London partners have come under threat from the profit drive. Reports that the position of one London partner is in question, as a result, remain unconfirmed.

Pentagram’s London Partners:

• John Rushworth

• David Hillman

• Daniel Weil

• Angus Hyland

• Fernando Gutierrez

• William Russell

• Harry Pearce*

• Domenic Lippa*

*From October 2006