Brody’s beanfeast

One of the great things about last year’s London Design Festival was that any apprehension on the part of the organisers when it was announced in the depths of recession was dispelled when the designers involved came up with such great ideas, despite the downturn.

That was the opinion voiced by LDF director Ben Evans when he revealed highlights of this year’s extravaganza this morning. But it appears that one of the better ideas for 2010 isn’t quite to his liking. A bout of friendly banter heralded graphics star Neville Brody’s appearance at the podium to announce the Anti-London Design Festival.

Dubbed the ‘ugly cousin or sister’ of the LDF, the ALDF is an ‘amazing opportunity’ to promote other ways of thinking, said Brody. ‘For 25 years in the West, culture has been put on ice,’ he pronounced. ‘Culture has been used money, not money to make culture.’

Posing the question ‘What happens if you use money to make culture?, Brody and co are planning a raft of activities around Redchurch Street in London’s Shoreditch. Collaborators include French graphics group Bazooka, ID magazine founder Terry Jones, Hector Proud, the Royal College of Art – where Brody is to take over the graphics course next year – and other subversives.

Given the brief is to ‘tear up the plan and start again’, what would you like to see at Brody’s beanfeast? As LDF founder and chairman Sir John Sorrell says, the more ideas the merrier.