Design events to check out in June

Exhibition: Charlotte Perriand: The Modern Life

This will be the second high profile exhibition the Design Museum has launched since reopening post-lockdown (we covered the first, Sneakers Unboxed, last month). Charlotte Perriand: The Modern Life is a retrospective on the French interior designer, whose modernist work was pioneering in the 20^th century.

While her early career was frequently overshadowed by male peers annd collaborators, the museum says her later reputation as a furniture designer “matched the stature of her peers”. The exhibition will be split into three sections: The Machine Age, Nature and the Synthesis of the Arts, and Modular Design for Modern Living. It will invite visitors to step inside recreations of some of her most famous interiors, while exploring her life as a “fiercely independent woman”.

Charlotte Perriand: The Modern Life will open on 19 June. More information on the exhibition can be found via the Design Museum website.

Talk(s): Right Aligned

Event organisers at Right Aligned say their talks are designed to “empower your future”. Each month the group hosts a series of talks with well known creatives and consultancies, and June’s offering is no different. This month features talks from the likes of Anthony Burrill, London-based branding studio Ragged Edge and in-house design team BBC Creative.

Ragged Edge’s chat will focus on the studio’s philosophy of “doing things differently”, while Anthony Burrill’s will talk about his life and work, and love for “simplicity that packs a punch”.

Right Aligned talks will take place throughout June. For dates and tickets, head to the website.

Talk: Design + History + Practice

Convened by Winchester School of Art PhD candidate Jennifer McHugh, Design + History + Practice will see a selection of design students explore their work. The forum will include words from Jenna Allsopp, a final year PhD student in design history at Brighton University; Rafael Amato, a graphic designer and master’s student at the University of Sao Paulo; and Toni Rutherford, a master’s student in the history of design at the RCA.

The talk will be a platform from which to learn about the students’ studies. Those involved will talk about the moment that sparked their interest in their field of study. It will also be a chance to explore a certain aspect of their work.

Design + History + Practice takes place on 1 June. More information on the speakers and the event can be found on the Design History Society website.  

Course: Advanced Mentoring Skills

Working in partnership with The Conversation Space, Kerning the Gap has developed a special programme of teaching called Advanced Mentoring Skills. As the name suggests, the course is dedicated to enable leaders to further their support of more junior creatives. It’s a three-module course, with lessons focusing on things like strengthening conversational skills, building trust and holding challenging conversations.

Kerning the Gap says the course is designed to be highly interactive, and this is achieved through very small working groups. Only 12 people are invited to a group, which the organisation says makes for “higher psychological safety, confidentiality and space for exploration”. It is delivered online via Zoom and is supported by an e-manual.

The Advanced Mentoring Skills course takes place 10 June. More details on the event can be accessed on the Kerning the Gap website.

Course: Brand Design and Strategy for Senior Creatives

This three-week course from Future London Academy (FLA) promises to teach its students everything they need to “create brands that stand out”. It’s being taught by designers who have previously worked for Wolff Olins and DesignStudio. The FLA has set out six main learning points for the course, and these include creating “holistic systems”, what makes for a good symbol and building a resonant brand story.

The course includes five hours of recorded content, as well as Q&A sessions and exercises that come with feedback. It’s being targeted towards creative and design directors and senior designers and teams.

The Ultimate Course on Brand Design and Strategy for Senior Creatives runs from 3 to 24 June. More information, including how to secure a place, can be found on the FLA website.

Festival: Typographics

Now in its 7^th year, Typographics will return this month to bring fans of typography another programme of events, talks and workshops. This year’s event will be hosted entirely online, meaning designers from around the world can tune in.

The core of the event will be a month-long conference, which will discuss the contemporary use of type, and how it will evolve in the future. Alongside this will be a series of workshops for patrons to take part in. These will cover topics like creative coding and “micro typography”. Finally, the month will also see the festival host TypeLab, a free 72-hour event featuring informal demos, technical experiments, inter­views, and more.

The Typographics festival begins on 1 June and runs all month. Further information can be found via the festival website.

Also check out:

• Design Week Awards shortlist: judging is underway for the 2021 awards, and we’ll be announcing our shortlist later this month. Keep an eye on the DWA website for more information.
• London Design Biennale: we’ve already picked out our must-see elements of this year’s biennale, which include a forest installation inside Somerset House and an AI-powered video experience of Antarctica. Head over to our guide to learn more.
• Fedrigoni installation: paper manufacturer Fedrigoni UK has teamed up with Mount Street Printers to commemorate their 40^th anniversary with an installation at the London stationers. The paper sculpture honours the art of printing, and is available to visit from 1 June.