2012 Speakers
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John Bricker, Creative Director for Gensler, John Bricker leads the hospitality, retail and brand design studios. With a broad understanding of the issues facing businesses today, John directs his teams in initiating a holistic approach to a design process encompassing brand development, retail environments, branded workplaces, showrooms, exhibition design, identity, print, and environmental communications. John’s recent US-based projects include the design of branded environments for Barney’s New York; Christian Dior; American Girl Place; HBO; and MGM Mirage City Center. Internationally, he has created prototypes for the global retail expansions of companies such as the NBA, Yum Brands, Armani Exchange. He is currently working with Palacio de Hierro on their new flagship store. John and his work have been published in a number of influential publications, which include Businessweek, Interior Design, Contract, Display and Design Ideas, and Hospitality Design. |
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Michael Bruno, Michael Bruno, real estate broker turned dot-com entrepreneur, is the founder of 1sdibs.com, the world's leading online source for 20th century design and antiques. In 1998 Bruno brought the infamous Parisan Flea Market, the Marché aux Puces, to the internet redefining the online buying experience by offering an alternative to auction sites and traditional auction houses. His concept was simple; if you offer the full price, you get “first dibs”. With its success over the last decade 1stdibs.com has expanded from its beginnings in antique and modern furniture to include estate jewelry, vintage couture, designer fashion and fine art. The company represents more than 1,000 dealers in 21 of the largest U.S. markets and has expanded internationally to Canada, France and the UK. Bruno has brought a new level of confidence to buying online by providing assured and authentic pieces. |
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Stephen Burks, Internationally praised industrial designer Stephen Burks and his studio Readymade Projects are leaders in creative design direction for various contemporary design projects ranging from retail interiors, packaging, and consumer products to furniture and home accessories. While he works with high profile brands such as Audi, B&B Italia, Cappellini and Estee Lauder, he takes an active role working with non-profits such as Aid to Artisans, the Nature Conservatory and the Clinton Foundation. Burks' commitment to sustainable design has led him to the developing world where he collaborates and consults on projects bringing economic and social benefit to local artisans by working with them to apply traditional craft techniques to contemporary sustainable design solutions. |
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Dr. Kenneth Montague, Dr. Kenneth Montague is an art collector, curator and founder of Wedge Curatorial Projects. His collection, over a decade in the making, is largely photo-based work exploring black identity and the African diaspora. As Director of Wedge Curatorial Projects, Montague has curated exhibitions such as, Becoming at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Detroit and the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University; headroom at the Museum of Canadian Contemporary Art, Toronto; and Position As Desired at the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto. Today, Montague continues to grow the Wedge Collection, with a focus on contemporary photography, video and design-based work that challenges notions of representation and identity. He currently sits on the Photography Curatorial Committee of the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Ryerson Gallery and Research Centre advisory board. Outside of the art world, Montague moonlights as a full-time dentist running his busy Toronto-based practice. www.wedgecuratorialprojects.org | @TDotDentist | @Wedge_Toronto |
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Michele Caniato, Michele Caniato is President of Culture & Commerce, a strategic design consultancy that develops high potential design opportunities for global brands and international designers. With its guiding principal “good design is good business”, Culture & Commerce helps companies leverage design as a critical strategic platform for differentiating brands and successfully launching products and services. The company represents high profile clients such as Philippe Starck, Marcel Wanders, Dror Benshetrit, Yves Behar, Piero Lissoni and Paola Navone. Caniato also founded Material ConneXion, the leading global materials consultancy and resource for innovative and sustainable materials and processes. Under his direction, Material ConneXion has cultivated the largest materials library worldwide with over 6,000 materials hosted in New York, Bangkok, Cologne, Korea, Milan and as of June 2011, Istanbul. |
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John Edelman, John Edelman, President of Design Within Reach (DWR), has over 20 years of experience with consumer-focused, lifestyle brands. Formerly as President and Chief Executive Officer at Edelman Leather, he increased brand awareness and sales as the leading national provider of premium leather to the home furnishings industry. Since taking lead at DWR in 2010, Edelman has transformed the online retailer by collaborating with young, visionary designers to develop creative product lines such as “Ollie”, inspired by skateboard culture, and “Rusa” a collection created with L.A.-based KAA Architects. Edelman takes a new approach to the leadership of the company by cultivating young talent while still offering the classic Herman Miller and Knoll designs which the company was built on. |
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Piero Gandini, Piero Gandini is President of FLOS, the iconic Italian lighting company, with subsidiaries in Scandinavia, The Netherlands, France, Germany, Spain, Japan, Norway, Belgium, China, and the USA. Gandini leads FLOS with a commitment to creative development that pursues the fundamental principles of design yet dares to be provocative. Gandini has established creative synergies with the most inspired international designers who take risks in design solutions yet maintain the integrity of the company name, including Philippe Starck, Marcel Wanders, Ron Gilad, Patricia Urquiola, Antonio Citterio and Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, to name a few. The latest Flos collection; Soft Architecture, is inspired by and devoted to nature as the environmental impact is reduced during production and a sustainable life cycle is ensured. Gandini maintains a strong vision for the future of design. |
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Eero Koivisto, Eero Koivisto is one third of the Swedish architectural trio Claesson Koivisto Rune. With a roster of innovative design projects ranging from design interiors and architecture to consumer products, Claesson Koivisto Rune puts Sweden on the map as an important centre for design. The firm is the recipient of numerous awards including “Designer of the Year 2011” by Elle Interiör (Sweden), “Designer of the Year 2010” by Elle Decor (I), “Best Domestic Design 2010” by Wallpaper (UK) and “German Design Award (Gold) 2011” by the Federal Republic of Germany. Their most notable projects include Sfera Building culture house in Kyoto, the Swedish Ambassador's residence in Berlin, and the Operakällaren gourmet restaurant, Stockholm. Most recently Claesson Koivisto Rune completed the Nobis Hotel Stockholm and Alberto Biani shops Rome/Paris. |
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Amy Lau, Amy Lau is founder and principal of her highly acclaimed New York based eponymous interiors firm. Inspired by her passion for nature and abstract art, she combines expressive colour with organic shapes. Lau's brilliant designs have been featured in LUXE magazine, Elle Décor, the New York Times, Gotham and House and Garden. Lau has also placed twice on the HGTV show “Top Ten” receiving the number one spot for a “Sublime Living Room” with a beautiful Bridgehampton, New York interior. Her east-meets-west New York City apartment interior also placed as one of the most distinguished “Lofts”. Lau was also co-founder of the prestigious Design Miami fair, which runs in conjunction with Art Basel Miami Beach. The fair assembles the most significant galleries specializing in design from the post-war period to the present. |
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Piero Lissoni, IDS 12 welcomes world-renowned Italian architect and designer Piero Lissoni as the inaugural International Guest of Honour. Lissoni’s elegant and understated work spans across three decades and a broad spectrum of design disciplines from products and graphics to full-scale interiors and architecture. Lissoni Associati created with Nicoletta Canesi 18 years ago, now employs over 70 architects, designers and graphic designers and is credited with some of the most beautiful interior spaces in the world ranging from private residences, yachts, showrooms, luxury hotels and resorts worldwide. Lissoni’s furniture and product designs include an extensive list of distinguished clients including Alessi, Boffi, Cappellini, Cassina, Glas Italia, Kartell, Knoll International, Lema, Living Divani, Poltrona Frau, and Porro. Some of his current international projects in progress include a luxury resort on the private island of Dellis Cay in Turks & Caicos; in Miami the interior architecture for the Shangri-La Hotel & Residence in Miami; an innovative design hotel in Amsterdam’s Museum Square; and the Mamilla Hotel In Jerusalem. Piero Lissoni has received numerous awards throughout his career: in 2005 he was inducted into the New York Hall of Fame of Interior Design; he won the Elle Decoration International Design Award for “Table System” (2006) and “Glass bathtub” (2009) by Boffi; and the Good Design Award by The Chicago Athenaeum Museum with the chair “Hi Tech” (2007) by Living Divani. |
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Karim Rashid, Internationally acclaimed designer Karim Rashid, born in Cairo, raised in Europe and Canada, with a firm based in New York, applies a global perspective to his iconic work. Rashid has over 3000 designs in production in over 35 countries. He retains an ever-increasing list of awards for his democratic products which include the ubiquitous Garbo waste can and Oh Chair for Umbra. His accomplishments reach well beyond the realm of consumer products with interiors such as the Morimoto Restaurant, Philadelphia and Semiramis hotel, Athens and exhibitions for Deusche Bank and Audi. Karim is a perennial winner of the Red Dot award, Chicago Athenaeum Good Design award, I.D. Magazine Annual Design Review, and IDSA Industrial Design Excellence award. Rashid's work is featured in 20 permanent collections worldwide. |
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Claus Sendlinger, Claus Sendlinger is a guru in the world of travel and lifestyle hotel marketing. At the age of 23, he founded COORDINATES GmbH, an incentives and events agency focused on the lifestyles market. This company laid the foundation for Design Hotels AG, for which he is founding CEO. With its beginnings as a marketing agency for hotels, Design Hotels AG has now expanded to incorporate a reservations system. The company currently represents 180 unique, design-oriented hotels in 40 countries worldwide, offering creative surroundings to culturally rooted guests who appreciate thought-provoking design and architecture. Sendlinger has been at the forefront of the boutique hotel evolution and leads his company with a focus on strategic and creative development as the company continues to gain momentum reaching new markets across the globe. |
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Chee Pearlman Chee Pearlman, former Editor-in-Chief of I.D. Magazine, is the director of Chee Company, a New York-based editorial and design consultancy. She is also Curator of the Curry Stone Design Prize, an annual $100,000 grant that recognizes innovative designers creating social impact solutions. A journalist, conference director, and curator for more than 20 years, she has contributed to The New York Times, Newsweek, Travel + Leisure, Wired, Popular Science and Architects Newspaper. |
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