POINT’s Authenticity Conference has caused quite a stir in the creative media, magazines, social networks and blogs following design, societal and cultural issues. Over the next few days we’ll add links and the best Tweets from the event.

Authenticity Conference reviews

Eye Review Talking about the A-Word

Computer Arts Erik Spiekermann interview at POINT’s Authenticity Conference

Creative Match Review

Design Week Review

Michael Hay Blog Review

Previews and commentary

British Council newsletter featuring Bruce Gilden

British Council Back of the Envelope

BDI British Design Innovation

Computer Arts set the scene

Cool Hunting Preview

Creative Match Preview

Creative Match review our Milton Glaser film teaser

Creative Review Preview

Design Council Preview

Designers Journal Preview

Design Week Preview

Dexigner Preview

Digital Arts Preview

Dwell Preview

Eye Magazine Preview

FormFiftyFive Preview

The Guardian Preview

It’s Nice That Preview

It’s Nice That review our Bruce Gilden film teaser

POINT Partner John Jones, Erik Spiekermann poster and conference preview

Nowness review our Elliot Erwitt film teaser

TwoHundredBy200 preview

Speaker Previews and Reviews

Morag Myerscough Preview

Supergroup London Review

Sean Rees and Nathan Webb – Purpose Preview and Review

With the faint glow of the Olympic torch still shimmering off the wood paneling of the Jarvis Hall, day two of POINT began a little earlier to accommodate a surprise speaker. First to the lectern was Lucienne Roberts. Quite how she held back the tears as she described the tragedy of David Miliband’s ‘overly graphic’ leadership campaign is hard to fathom. Her book of nun’s habits should enjoy a good run (one for the Coltrane fans there).

Sean Rees (right) and Nathan Webb (left). Photo Davy Jones

Next up came a talk which for many stands as the highlight of POINT’s first year. Sean Rees and Nathan Webb talked about their work for the McGuire Programme, a global organization set up to help those suffering from a stammer, and a project supported by their agency, Purpose. When Rees showed a film, shot 10 years ago, of his attempt to say his own name, it suddenly became clear that if there is an authenticity of purpose, then here it was. If you can imagine being ‘robbed of your fluency’, Sean Rees showed that there is a way through for the 66,000,000 people who live with some form of speech impediment. Wonderful stuff.

Photo Davy Jones

Robert Francis Müller and Jessica Dance, Get Mulered and Dance. Photo Davy Jones

The winsome imaginations of Robert Muller and Jessica Dance provided a delightful interlude, with Muller walking off with POINT’s inaugural ‘Best Moustache’ award. Lovely work.

Nick Couch, Open Studio Club. Photo Davy Jones

Clare Sutcliffe, Code Club’s 700 school destinations. Photo Davy Jones

The next three speakers exemplified an entrepreneurial zeal and single mindedness in setting up exciting business ideas that are making a difference. Rhonda Drakeford, founder of London design consultancy Multistorey and celebrated Lambs Conduit Street boutique Darkroom talked about her double life and was followed by former Figtree creative Director Nick Couch, who left the agency to start Open Studio Club, a studio space concept that appears to be becoming a global idea. Clare Sutcliffe finsihed the trilogy with the story of the set-up of Code Club, the after school phenomena that has seen the sett up of more than 700 Code clubs in under 12 months.

Peter York’s arrival, beautifully shod and a flurry of fine tailoring almost ended in a green room tragedy. It was thanks to POINT’s remarkable back room team that a button, recently liberated from York’s elegant double-breasted suit was swiftly reunited with its Worsted foundations, and York – the epitome of elegance – could speak to us of the 150th anniversary of the London Underground fully and correctly dressed.

Elliot Erwitt film interview

After lunch, our man in Manhattan introduced POINT’s short film of legendary photographer Elliott Erwitt. Superman did once hit Mr Erwitt’s 8th storey window – but very gently.

Projekt Triangle Book launch

Martin Grothmaak, Projekt Triangle

Dressed in haute couture track pants, Martin Grothmaak spoke of the genesis of a new book celebrating the work of Projekt Triangle. Three years in the making, the paper stock was shipped by plane, train and automobile from Japan before being turned into a stunning review of Triangle’s work and working ethos.

Jonathan Barnbrook, The Next Day – David Bowie

Artists don’t come any more authentic than David Bowie, and it is his good fortune to have chosen the thoughtful and eloquent Mr Barnbrook as his collaborator, the cover for ‘The Next Day’ being one of the many topics covered in a thoroughly fascinating presentation.

Seymour Chwast. Photo Davy Jones

POINT’s penultimate speaker rightly carries the epithet of legend. Seymour Chwast, founder of Pushpin, showed just a glimpse of the colossal canon of work for which he is rightly celebrated. Ideas driven, simply executed, his modest delivery belied the consistency and quality of a lifetime’s work.

Morag Myescough with Luke Morgan, Supergroup collaborator and The Highliners. Photo Supergroup London

And then came the Highliners, led by Luke Morgan, Supergroup London collaborator with Morag Myerscough and band (including Ginge former Meteors drummer) accompanying Ms Myerscough’s instinctive journey through colours patterns, fifty feet beach balls and the letter A. Never has a design conference ended in such splendid chaotic psycho billy babble and no doubt RIBA has not staged anything like it.

After the dawn raid for Spiekerposters had died down, the Jarvis Hall settled in for Day 1 of POINT. First up was the UX maestro Oliver Reichenstein. He had somehow managed to find an iPhone in a piece of Renaissance art – a remarkable discovery and one that did not go unnoticed by the gathered masses (though it has been missed by every other Renaissance scholar).

Next on stage was Nik Roope, polymath, Poke founder and general all around bright bloke. From neverending websites to the beautiful Plumen lightbulb, his was a talk full of ingenuity and invention and a celebration of the importance of storytelling. Beau Lotto managed to make practically everyone in the audience question their own eyeballs, and in the process, challenge perceptions of colour and form – suggesting that when we find uncertainty, we also find true creativity.

David Hieatt managed to arrive with a pair of his superb Hiut jeans, and leave without them (we’re still looking David). Do what you love, and do it every day was his mantra. Except stealing – that’s not acceptable. If everything goes to plan with his memory denims he’ll be turning the rivers and streams of cardigan a delightful indigo blue once more.

Phil Lewis, London Strategy Unit. Photo Davy Jones

Gary Aspden, Adidas and Mary. Photo Davy Jones

‘Lanky’ Phil Lewis besmirched the good name of brand marketing and affirmed the importance of a clear strategy. To close the morning, Gary Aspden took the stage, took a seat, and gave us a very heartfelt walk through his career, his passions, and the secret to cajoling a big business into hiring the finest band of the 20th century to play a secret gig at a ‘major sports event’ held in 2012 where everyone got their faces clowned up. From warehouse parties in the shadow of Tommy Ball’s to trainers by Peter Saville the boy from Blackburn done good.

Alan Fletcher from the film interview. Film and direction Patrick Baglee and Quentin Newark

After lunch, Quentin Newark gave an eloquent introduction to his former boss, the much missed Alan Fletcher, before we took a look through the keyhole at Alan’s studio in a rarely seen 20 minute movie filmed in 2005 by POINT’s Englishman in New York Patrick Baglee. David Tonge followed with a look into some of the Division’s signature projects, and though fluent in Japanese, he spoke to us in crisp English.

Erik Spiekermann, EdenSpiekermann and FontShop. Photo Davy Jones

Erik Spiekermann’s POINT Poster

Erik Spiekermann printing a limited edition POINT poster

Sporting a magnificent cyan shirt, Erik Spiekermann, though fluent in seventeen languages proceeded to talk of rugby scrums, concentric circles and the end of the project manager in his native northern burr. If process can be authentic, then the ‘guvnor is on the way to defining what it might look like. There was a typo. But we won’t mention that. Oh, and we should all just get on and draw.

Bruce Gilden, Magnum Photos. Photo Davy Jones

With teatime approaching, we were shaken from our mid-afternoon torpor by the candid and charismatic Bruce Gilden. First with a whistle stop tour of some of his most powerful and iconic images, and then, in a brief Q&A, Gilden talked of his childhood, his time amongst gangsters, and the fact that he older he gets, the closer he gets.

Milton Glaser film interview

Time for tea, a glimpse of the rare spring sunshine and then we’re back. A delightful film by Hudson Lines showed POINT’s New York attaché Patrick Baglee playing word association with the world’s most revered and respected designer Milton Glaser. ‘Work?’ said Baglee. ‘Play’ responded Glaser. ‘Cut’ said Lines.

Matt Webb, BERG. Photo Davy Jones

Matt Webb showed an authenticity of execution with a ‘through-the-round-window’ presentation of the Little Printer’s design and development. Concrete became comedy with the 160,000 individual letters and jocular humour of Andy Altmann and Gordon Young’s stunning comedy pavement, currently playing an extended summer season on the Blackpool seafront. Setting up factories, cataloguing jokes and hiring would-be burglars are all in a days work to this newly minted Northern duo.

Andy Altmann, Mr Krankie, Wee Jimmy Krankie and Gordon Young on the Comedy Carpet

To end the day, Jay Osgerby (in a fine pair of brogues) and the statuesque Edward Barber showed just why they’d been awarded the torch project with Heath Robinson’esque behind-the-scenes demos of wind resistance using gas canisters and an office fan. The gasp that greeted the reveal of one of the actual 8,000 torches from its muslin sack suggested that the most famous object of POINT’s first ever day was a shiny inanimate one.

Barber Osgerby’s Olympic Torch design

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Authenticity Conference Great Expectations

@bamslackmore Up nice and early for @POINTishere Conference – #POINTishere http://instagram.com/p/YzYdwwkb8-/ 

@JennyTheolin Nice touch. Limited Edition @espiekermann poster hand-printed by the man himself. Thank you #POINTishere. http://instagram.com/p/YzYdwkF4G5/

@AGonaldi Erik Spiekermann designs and hand prints POINT poster http://pointishere.com/erik-spiekermann-designs-and-hand-prints-point-poster/ … via @POINTishere

@iA Seamlessness. #POINTishere

@gerryleonidas At #POINTishere conference. Size, seating, sightlines of RIBA auditorium are perfect.

@RJAshley @JennyTheolin @POINTishere great day, the talks are really on point.

@Tom_Goldsworthy Excited faces and great talks… #POINTishere pic.twitter.com/LvKPu0UzgO

‏@H_FJ You should all be following @gerryleonidas’ tweets from #POINTishere. I think he’s about 15 minutes away from taking a hostage.

@markboulton Why the hell am I not at Point conference? #pointishere

@RobAlderson Just got to #pointishere great line up, nice venue and Patrick from @CreativeReview is wearing quite the natty jacket

Authenticity Conference Day One

@_DesignStudio_At @POINTLondon today, kicking off the morning with a strong coffee and Oliver Reichenstein @IA #pointishere

@OPX_London Great start to our first day at Point. Oliver Reichenstein on authenticity in Digital @POINTishere#pointishere pic.twitter.com/ePzfADMrrD

@JennyTheolin Designers need two eyes. A ‘blind’eye for the function, and ‘an eye wearing a monocle’ for the form” – @iA #pointishere

@RobAlderson Oliver Reichenstein setting the metaphor bar high at #pointishere with Plato’s cave allegory as a guide to digital design

@gpetriglieri Timeless business, authenticity policing. RT @papadimitriou “Digital authenticity is bullshit”— @iA #POINTishere

@papadimitriou “The alphabet is a code with discrete values” — @iA #POINTishere pic.twitter.com/g0RKcJjvrJ

@espiekermann Point Conference in London off to a good start. #pointishere

Nicolas Roope, Poke and Hulger

@Grinblo Creating stories and meaning in today’s digital world means understanding in fragmentation. – @nikroope #POINTishere

@ComputerArts Cracking design trivia! RT “@LSUsocial Fact: Nik Roope’s dad made Stanley Kubrick’s glasses #POINTishere

Beau Lotto

@RobAlderson Beau Lotto brilliant at #pointishere “information is literally meaningless”

David Hieatt. Hiut Denim

@LSUsocial David Hieatt now talking about authentic quality and the story of Hiut Denim #POINTishere pic.twitter.com/xTp7NoEbX4

@POINTishere From @POINTishere @JennyTheolin “If you want to be authentic, ask yourself: What matters to me? And am I doing it?” – @DavidHieatt @POINTishere

From @IanSanders @POINTishere “I might be bankrupt in 12 months time but at least I tried the thing important to me” @davidhieatt Hiut Denim

@POINTishere From @POINTishere @papadimitriou “If you’re not doing the thing that you love, you’re not being authentic to yourself” — @davidhieatt

@AETKinneir Alan Fletcher intro from Quentin Newark: “he became the best by unlearning, not doing what he was told nor emanating others” #pointishere

@iA “You want to watch a movie about Katie Price. Or not about Katie Price. I don’t know why Katie Price.”—David Tonge #Pointishere

@iA The Division’s motto: “Design is about removing, not adding.” #Pointishere

Bruce Gilden, Magnum Photos

@gerryleonidas Sorry to miss evening session of #POINTishere, was shaping up well. Best talks by people with a story to tell. Bruce Gilden most memorable.

Milton Glaser film interview

@JennyTheolin @POINTishere’s Milton Glaser film. His mother’s Spaghetti recipe! instagram.com/p/Y0XR9YF4DO/ vimeo.com/63585633

Matt Webb, BERG

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@papadimitrou “Connecting products is the 21st century electrification” —@genmon #POINTishere pic.twitter.com/HRL5V4Et6a

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@POINTishere Genuine jaw-dropping reaction to @whynotassoc’s Andy Altmann and Gordon Young description of making the Blackpool Comedy Carpet

@JennyTheolin Love that the original prototype of The Torch by @barberosgerby was made using an IKEA cutlery strainer. But, I would say that. #pointishere

@JennyTheolin Apparently maximum concentration span is 45mins, I just spent 12hrs attentively listening. Cream crackered. But in a good way! #POINTishere

Authenticity Conference Day Two

@gdand_ ‘is all graphic design inherently inauthentic? asks @gdand_Lucienne Roberts at #POINTishere

@JennyTheolin Who would have thought Coco Chanel’s ‘little black dress’ was inspired by nuns? Great talk by Lucienne Roberts and @gdand_#pointishere

Sean Rees

@sean_rees Irony of a person who stutters becoming a “Speaker”… Enjoyed my time at #POINTishere, thanks to… http://instagram.com/p/Y3M1jSIs4T/

@POINTishere An #POINTishere highlight. Sean Rees and Nathan Webb of Purpose presented their work for the McGuire Programme visuelle.co.uk/index.php/perm…

construct london ‏ @constructstudio @imstucknomore @sean_rees @Purpose_Ltd @mcguireprogram It was excellent – he’s a first class ambassador for the program

@sean_rees So many positive reactions from our talk at #POINTishere. When I’m old and grey I’ll think back to today and smile about this. Thanks.

@JennyTheolin The first ‘WOOP’ from the audience at #POINTishere went to @sean_rees and Nathan Webb. Amazing talk, guys! Really well done.

Nick Couch, Open Studio Club

@JennyTheolin ”Fact: By 2020, 40% increase in freelancers in the world.” @nickcouchlondon is speaking a lot of sense at #pointishere.

@SabineZetteler “Travel makes you more creative”. Confirmed. Nice. Thanks Nick Couch {Open Studio Club} #POINTishere http://instagram.com

Peter York

@tdeburca Ideas, passion, authenticity and Peter York’s tube at #pointishere. Great stuff @POINTishere

Seymour Chwast

@POINTishere Seymour Chwast founder of @ThePushpinGroup. Fifty years of #Authenticity design, illustration, books and art. Can’t wait!

@SarahSnaith ‘There’s nothing authentic about what we do, we’re representing something. Actors do something a little closer’ @ThePushpinGroup @POINTishere

Elliot Erwitt film interview

@cole_peters Elliot Erwitt, master of black and white photography.#POINTishere pic.twitter.com/FnO6IfAeQa

@cole_peters So cool to get some insight into Elliot Erwitt’s life and work. Inspiring photography focusing on the human condition.#POINTishere

Martin Grothmaak a donkey and a nude

@cole_peters Loving Martin Grothmaak’s brutalist-inflected slides. #POINTishere pic.twitter.com/4QfXKxFkN1

@cole_peters Some really beautiful work being shown by Martin Grothmaak of Projekt Triangle. #POINTishere pic.twitter.com/riCH1UbSNz

‏@JennyTheolin “Pain decides for and teaches you” – Martin Grothmaak #POINTishere No idea how much that resonates with me. #rsi

@savzen Jonathan Barnbrook talking about David Bowie’s new album cover and promotion. #POINTishere http://instagram.com/p/Y2kmP7kAsz/#

@SaraSnaith Jonathan @barnbrook ‘advertising is unscrupulous moronic bullshit’ #Authenticity #pointishere

@itsReise Yes! @barnbrook just smashed a talk at #POINTishere & covered design he’s done for #DavidBowie! Brilliant designer! pic.twitter.com/OovngeSCnS

@cole_peters Can’t wait to see@barnbrook take the stage at #POINTishere. Part of me hopes he will be presenting drunk. A guy can dream.

@SarahSnaith Jonathan @barnbrook ‘advertising is unscrupulous moronic bullshit’ #Authenticity @POINTishere #POINTishere

Clare Sutcliffe, Code Club

@BjornHoydal Can’t wait for my seven-year-old to join @CodeClub Just have to get it started home in Norway first. #POINTishere

@cole_peters “40% of Code Club students are girls, compared to the industry avg of 9% women.” — @ClareSutcliffe #POINTishere Great news for the future!

‏@cole_peters “By empowering kids to code, we empower them to become active creators, rather than passive consumers.” Clare Sutcliffe #POINTishere

@eyemagazine RT @jolwen #POINTishere kids see coding as playing and making things. @CodeClub such a good idea. @POINTishere

Morag Myerscough

@EmmaLauraJones #POINTishere so excited to see Morag Myerscough speak – saved the best for last!

@jolwen 3 May #POINTishere love @MoragMyerscough’s work not just the colour, but the scale thing, and the materials…  and forms

@POINTishere @MoragMyerscough and Supergrouplondon’s Luke Morgan (The Highliners) on stage. Psychobilly & design in one heady cocktail

Legendary commentator Peter York joins the POINT lineup. Author, journalist, broadcaster, professor and consultant, Peter York has provided the social commentary to the last three decades from the era defining Sloane Ranger handbook to Modern Times and more recently the Rise and Fall of the Adman.

Peter will be talking about his new book ‘The Blue Riband’ launched last month and part of the Penguin Underground Lines series commissioned by TFL and Penguin to celebrate 150 years of the Tube. Experiencing London as a cultural phenomenon, design journey and home to many elite groupings from designers (‘chic-graphique’) to Television Types, Peter will explore the cultural icon that is the tube and the genre defining design it has inspired.

Dress sharp, none of us will escape his scrutiny!

Following on from yesterday’s news, here’s a little film shot last week in Berlin at Erik Spiekermann’s studio. the film shows Erik’s private press and him printing an exclusive poster for POINT’s Authenticity Conference delegates.

If you are one of the first 100 to register at RIBA on Thursday you can obtain one of these collectors items, free of charge.

An Erik Spiekermann original

Here’s an interesting scenario. It’s not often that a living design legend authors and designs a poster for you. It’s then almost impossible to imagine them printing it on their own private press. It’s then hard to believe that these unique and original posters would be available for delegates at a conference.

Function follows the form

Delegates to POINT’s inaugural conference themed on Authenticity will have the opportunity to see and potentially own a numbered Spiekermann original. How’s that for Authentic!

If you have been issued delegate ticket codes, these are still redeemable until midnight tonight. We look forward to seeing delegates at RIBA tomorrow, 66 Portland Place, London W1B 1AD. If you don’t know London, RIBA is situated ten to fifteen minutes walk from both Oxford Circus and Great Portland Street underground stations.

Elliot Erwitt likes children and dogs. He’s also fond of woman having tried marriage four times and has a great eye for a photograph. POINT met with Elliot in late February at his Manhattan apartment – the same building that he runs his studio from.

In the ensuing conversation Elliot talked about his life as a photographer, the themes within his work and his career with Magnum. His work spans more than fifty years and Elliot is still prolific in his eighties producing a sequence of books documenting his life and work. This edited film excerpt is taken from a ten minute short which will be shown at POINT’s Authenticity conference on 2 May.

The POINT London team visited New York last month and spent three days shooting with Bruce Gildon, Elliot Erwitt and Milton Glaser.

We’ll be publishing teasers from each shoot prior to our first conference early next month and here’s a short excerpt from our interview with the legendary Milton Glaser.

Milton had arranged a 30 minute interview, but was generous enough to give us almost three times that time talking effusively about the difference between art and design, the city of New York, his favourite clients, his friend Alan Fletcher and even his mother’s home cooking. If you want to see the full version, we’re showing a 30 minute edit of this conversation at the Authenticity conference 2-3 May.

After months of curation the POINT team are delighted to announce that the schedule for next week’s ‘Authenticity’ conference is published on our Schedule page.

It’s hard to pick out highlights as everyone speaking will be of significant interest and our sessions have been developed to enable delegates to identify key themes. POINT covers art, branding, education, entrepreneurial ventures, film and photography, graphic and product design, user experience and UX, a slice of neuroscience and some music.

We’re looking forward to our opening keynote at 10.00 on Thursday 2 May and we look forward to seeing some of you there.

As part of our New York trilogy of films, POINT met with Bruce Gilden and filmed him discussing a wide range of topics, ranging from his formative interest in photography through to work for Magnum and in particular his famous work documenting the resort of Coney Island.

Bruce’s work is an iconic reflection of day-to-day life on the streets and in this case the boardwalk and beaches of the resort. In a fascinating insight into the area, POINT filmed on a bitterly cold day as teams of people cleaned up after Hurricane Sandy.

You can see fuller versions of our filming with Bruce and meet the man himself during the POINT 01 Authenticity Conference at RIBA in May, where Bruce will be presenting his work and participating in a Question and Answer session.

David Hieatt

David Hieatt is one of the UK’s most respected entrepreneurs, as much for his resolute focus on ethical practices and an overwhelming generosity of spirit toward his fellow man and his home town of Cardigan as for the commercial and critical success of his hugely well regarded clothing brand Howies.

A native of Wales, he started out selling training shoes on a market stall before beginning a career in advertising at Saatchi and Saatchi. The day he lost a pitch to work on the Adidas account, he voted with his feet and started work at Adidas. While there, he founded Howies and started the brand with the production of just four t-shirts. He continued to grow Howies and strengthen its principles of ethical practices and the use of natural fabrics, while at the same time returning to advertising and reaching board level at Abbott Mead Vickers.

In 2001 he left London and returned home to Wales to focus on Howies which by this time had become a major brand is its own right and which was eventually sold to Timberland (though Hieatt subsequently tried to buy it back 3 times).

After the sale David and his wife Clare founded the Do Lectures, partly inspired by a text message quoting Dick Dastardly. Described as a ‘Glastonbury of the mind’ and one of the top 10 ideas festivals in the world it now takes place in Wales and California, speakers at this year’s Do Lectures event include Alan Webber, co-founding editor of Fast Company, Bill Drummond, artist, author and co-founder of the KLF, and Chief Arvol Looking Horse, Chief of the Sioux Nation.

Unable to resist the lure of the cloth David fell back into fashion and in 2011 founded the Hiut Denim Co bringing denim production back to Cardigan Bay in the process. As part of the range, Hieatt is introducing a pair of jeans with a digital memory called the History Tag app which will give you access to images of your jeans being made by the Grand Masters at the factory, and will allow future owners of the jeans to join their story to yours.

David Hieatt is an entrepreneurial figure that delegates to POINT’s Authenticity will find of great interest. A one time market stall trader, advertising creative, brand leader, company founder, town rejuvenator, conference instigator – the list of descriptors here doesn’t really encompass the broad array of talents, roles and ‘involvements’ to describe David’s life to date.

David steps onto the podium as founder of the much feted Do Lectures where he normally sits audience side as organiser and curator of an increasingly eclectic list of speakers at events in Wales and California. As if that were not enough he is also the Founder and principle of Hiut Denim – the name is a hybrid made from David’s sir name and the word ‘utility’ – the jeans brand set up in Cardigan, Wales. The brand boasts that it is set up to “do one thing well”, which given David’s multifaceted career is clearly no reflection of the many things he achieves.

Huit Denim is an extroadinary idea that on the one hand aims to establish an upscale hipster fashion brand and also create jobs in Cardigan employing people with incredible expertise and craftsmanship who had become unemployed following the closure of the town’s Dewhirst jeans factory when it moved production to Morocco.

David previously founded the action sportswear company Howies with his wife Clare in 1995, while working with Adidas. Howies was sold to Timberland in 2006. His background in advertising saw him cut his teeth at Saatchi and Saatchi where he began his relationship with sportswear brands pitching for Adidas work. One of Hiut Denim’s tags on their site says “Yup, we just make jeans. That’s all folks”. That may well be –  but what is clear is that David Hieatt is anything but a one venture, one idea creative.

Nathan Webb and Sean Rees

Sean Rees and Nathan Webb are designers at London-based brand consultancy Purpose. When the agency began an internal initiative, inviting each designer to suggest two companies they felt could be helped by design, Sean suggested The McGuire Programme.

McGuire Programme

He won a peer vote to take the project on with the support of the business and together with Nathan, presented a proposal to re-brand the organisation.

The Programme, founded in 1994, is dedicated to assisting people who stutter, by helping them go beyond their affliction and transforming them into becoming more eloquent and articulate speakers.

McGuire Programme

Now a live project well on the way to completion, the challenge has even greater resonance for Sean who himself is battling to overcome his stutter. From the Rhondda Valleys, he graduated from Cardiff School of Art and Design with First Class Honours in Graphic Communication. As someone who has made significant advancements through the programme, he has recently undertaken training to become a coach on the programme, giving back the support he received in his early days. At a recent four-day event in London, McGuire Programme participants gathered from all over the world (1% of the world’s population is afflicted with stuttering for which there is no cure, only therapeutic treatments) and challenged themselves at one of the toughest speaking environments, Speakers’ Corner, not as observers, but as participants.

McGuire Programme

You can find out more about the McGuire Programme on the current website at www.mcguireprogramme.com - the newly designed site launches in May.

Sean Rees and Nathan Webb are two young designers who have come to our attention for their work at Purpose and most notably for their initiative to rebrand The McGuire Programme and create awareness in the Programme’s mission to assist people who stutter and to help them become more eloquent and articulate in their speech.

McGuire Programme

Sean suffers from a stutter and so the initiative has a strong bearing on his life as he seeks to return the support he received in his early days. He has made significant advancements through his involvement with the programme and has recently undertaken training to become a coach on the programme.

At a recent four-day event in London, McGuire Programme participants gathered from all over the world (1% of the world’s population is afflicted with stuttering for which there is no cure, only therapeutic treatments) and challenged themselves at one of the toughest speaking environments, Speakers’ Corner, not as observers, but as participants.

McGuire participants at Speakers Corner, LondonMcGuire Programme

You can find out more about the McGuire Programme on the current website at www.mcguireprogramme.com - the newly designed site launches in May.

Rhonda Drakeford is the co-founder of the design consultancy Multistorey which spans the divide between interesting cultural projects and corporate assignments. Rhonda is also the co-founder of Darkroom, the independent store and online shop located on Lamb’s Conduit Street in Bloomsbury, London, which has built up a cult following since its formation in 2009.

Parlour Culture 2009. Multistorey

Rhonda co-founded Multistorey with Harry Woodrow in 1997, following their graduation from Central St. Martins Art College. The studio has developed an eclectic mix of clients and projects across many disciplines and industries, united by work that has a conceptual core, but is also accessible to client audiences.

Unpackaged London Cafe bar, 2007. MultistoreyConstructive Lines store, 2008. Multistorey

Darkroom explores several concepts within its store and is positioned at the crossover between fashion and interiors. The store holds functional pieces that also hold sculptural qualities. This means “a necklace may be worn traditionally or hung on the wall as an objet d’art”. Rhonda’s interest in Africa art forms is also explored with new takes on textiles and jewellery and present them in new contexts.

Hand-held mirrors. DarkroomAfrican patterns. Darkroom

Darkroom designs its own collections and also favours work by emerging and unknown designer and craftspeople.

After studying graphic design at Central St Martins, Rhonda formed the design consultancy Multistorey with fellow graduate Harry Woodrow in 1997.

Design London exhibition. Milan Furniture Fair 2005. MultistoreyDesign Museum, Designs of the Year 2005. Multistorey

As Multistorey’s creative director Rhonda has led jobs ranging from branding, packaging, exhibition design, and more recently shop fitting; clients include Nokia, Burberry, Swarovski, the Design Museum and Unpacked, an organic food store in North London for which Multistorey helped create a new shopping concept.

Darkroom. Lambs Conduit Street

The agency has become well known for its highly creative portfolio that employs a wide array of production techniques. In 2005, Rhonda launched a range of cushions made from vintage African fabrics that sold very successfully in Liberty, Urban Outfitters and over 20 design boutiques worldwide. It is this personal interest in creating things using both traditional and pioneering processes that has gradually drawn her towards the world of product and interior design.

Darkroom shop interior

In 2009, Rhonda joined forces with long term friend Lulu Roper-Caldbeck to form Darkroom – an independent London and on-line store that is a vehicle for presenting their self-designed products alongside a carefully curated mix of accessories by other pioneering names in both the fashion and interior worlds. Darkroom’s bold aesthetic and unique curation have been extremely well received by press and customers alike, and the brand continues to build with plans to launch an interior design consultancy service some time this year.

Preferring to avoid the label-led approach, Darkroom presents work by emerging and unknown designers and craftspeople from around the world, alongside its expanding self-designed collections.

www.darkroomlondon.com

www.multistorey.net

Get Müllered and Dance are one of a new generation of collaborative partnerships where complementary skills come together and produce remarkable results when the opportunity arises, but where the partners also enjoy an independent creative life.

Couture Creatures

Jessica Dance is a London-based art director, set designer and prop stylist. She specialises in creating handcrafted sets, props and accessories. A playful imagination runs riot in the areas of fashion, editorial, interiors, film and animation and in the process she creates tactile and inviting solutions to a wide variety of creative challenges.

Mulberry 40th Anniversary Book

Jessica has been commissioned to knit giant toothbrushes for the offices of Wieden+Kennedy, embroidered masthead typography for Vogue, a gigantic knitted calculator, and a series of animal heads from 100% lamb’s wool for a new installation at the The Assembly Network.

Rabbits Don’t Like Chips

Robert Muller is a director working in live action, animation, motion graphics or a combination of them all. Clients include Mulberry, Adidas, Toshiba and Red Bull Music. He was still enjoying student life when his film Project Atlantis won him a D&AD award.

Whinnie Williams “You Don’t Love Me”

Together, Jessica and Robert’s collaborations are produced under the title of Get Müllered and Dance and include a stop-frame animation to celebrate the launch of Mulberry’s 40th anniversary book, a paper animation for a private island in the Maldives, stings for E4 and a wonderfully winsome music video for Whinnie Williams where the creative partnership saw Robert in the role of writer, director and producer and Jessica as art director, set designer and prop maker.

Whinnie Williams “You Don’t Love Me”

POINT is delighted to announce that Get Mullered and Dance have agreed to speak at the Authenticity Conference, 2-3 May at RIBA.

Niyama – A Paper Island

Get Mullered and Dance takes its name from the collaboration between Robert Muller and Jessica Dance that has spawned a number of innovative projects based on the duo’s combined skills of film, animation, live action and set design.

Hanson of London

Having built up a following from projects for a wide variety of clients including Mulberry, Whistles, Selfridges and Hanson of London, the duo appear regularly in London’s creative blogs. Their unique style of stop frame animation has won many admirers and is a strong feature of their work. The recent Vimeo music video for Whinnie Williams at the top of this article references Robert’s love for French New Wave Cinema and features Jessica as Art Director.