Danegeld set to supplement UK creative currency

The cult of celebrity lives on in design, it seems – with a rampant fear of the unknown threatening to curb creativity.

Okay, so that’s rather an extreme view of the scenario over the response to D&AD’s latest set of President’s Lectures by designers chosen by new D&AD president Simon ‘Sanky’ Sankarayya. But take-up has been varied and it’s not as though they involve technologically-driven geeks.

Talks by seasoned troupers such as Pentagram partner Harry Pearce, with whom Sanky has collaborated on projects such as last year’s London Design Festival contribution by writers’ collectives 26 and International Pen, are selling exceptionally well, as you might expect.  But his ‘wild card’ act, Danish product design trio Kibisi, doesn’t seem to carry the same caché with the D&AD crowd.

We at Design Week know those guys are good and a definite ‘one to watch’ – why else would we have profiled them on 1 April? Could it be that the creative world has lost its spirit of adventure? Or is it that the dominant adland element of D&AD’s membership still doesn’t get 3D design?

Get along to London’s Logan Hall on 5 October to check out what they’re missing. Could prove to be quite a D&AD designfest for once.