Sampson links capital

The Design Council has appointed MPL chairman Peter Sampson to head Design Links London – the support group for design counsellors appointed by Business Links in the capital.

Sampson is putting together a team of ten Design Link members from the industry. He is due to name the ten next week, but they are known to include BBC head of corporate and brand design Tony Key and FM Group managing director Ben Fether.

The team will assist in recruiting the first Business Link design counsellors for the London area. A total of eight counsellors will be appointed and interviews are due later this month.

As the group with responsibility for an area with the highest concentration of designers and the highest gross concentration of small and medium-sized businesses in the country, DLL is seen as pivotal to the success of the network. “We are hoping that certain elements of DLL will set the exemplar for other design links around the country,” says Sean Blair, design director at the Design Council.

Design Links London will encourage a close relationship between the London design counsellors and the local design community, says Sampson. He will chair the group for two years.

Regular meetings hosted by consultancies for the counsellors are part of Sampson’s plans to create a two-way relationship. Seminars and a regular design clinic are also in the pipeline.

“Like the other 16 support groups around the country, the London body will be there to guide, inspire and motivate the design counsellors attached to the Business Links,” says Sampson.