On business travel (for women) I take anywhere between 40 and 70 flights a year. 90% of these are for work as I give talks around the world. Unlike George Clooney in Up in the Air, I’m a woman so packing is a completely different affair. It’s a niche expertise but I wanted to document how… Continue reading On business travel (for women)
Young people
I’m lucky to have a spare room and for the last few years, I’ve made a case of inviting interesting people younger than myself to stay over if they’re in town. I meet them when I lecture in universities or speak at conferences. Some have come to visit London for work, a conference, or just… Continue reading Young people
Men’s fashion in the City
Men’s fashion in the City In London, if you have even a passing interest in the sartorial you’ll find yourself with plenty to lust over. It’s not as good as my year spent in Milan in 2005–6 but much better than my uni years of Montreal winter wear and the abayas and kerkushas of my teenage… Continue reading Men’s fashion in the City
End of Year Review
Thanks to Prof. Dr. Molly Steenson for initiating this habit, this is the 11th year I’ve done these reviews. 1.What did you do in 2018 that you’d never done before?Got a job. 2. Did you keep your New Years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?What New Year’s Resolutions? 3. Did anyone close to you… Continue reading End of Year Review
What’s next?
I’m turning 38 and as of 13 contractual days ago, I have a job at Bulb as Head of Labs (new products, new parternships). Bulb is an affordable and green energy company. So I’m back working in Shoreditch in a co-working space set up by David Cameron’s former digital advisor that looks like something out… Continue reading What’s next?
Smarter Homes: Lessons Learnt
I wrote a book on smart homes which has just been published by the lovely people at Apress in the US. Why did I do that? Well there were no books on smart homes as a technological, sociological and design movement. There are plenty of design and architecture books out there, plenty of books on… Continue reading Smarter Homes: Lessons Learnt
Making it!? (a writeup)
Making it!? (a writeup) Three months ago, Adrian McEwen and I were talking as we do about this and that. He’s been the co-founder of DoES Liverpool since 2011 and I started selling the Arduino in the UK in 2007. I never considered myself a maker but enabled others to become makers though my work running… Continue reading Making it!? (a writeup)
Sunday Scraps #3
(Yes I know, not posted on a sunday. Sue me) Hiroshima / The ugly scandal that cancelled the Nobel Prize / Sugartime / Apollo magazine / Basic Design: a revolution in Art History, the beginning of the Hatton Gallery / John Pasmore: The Developing process video / This Is Tomorrow (1956) exhibition / Design education:… Continue reading Sunday Scraps #3
Rabbit holes & the convoluted history of modernism and home design.
Starting tomorrow I kick off the first leg of a little tour of places across Europe that have inspired me for my book on Smart Homes (which you should totally order by the way). I’ll be interviewing people along the way and recording it all for an upcoming podcast, so fear not if you hate… Continue reading Rabbit holes & the convoluted history of modernism and home design.
An extending process
An extending process In my book, I mention briefly the history of industrial design which I studied. It had never occurred to me to research the history of design education per se but this is fast becoming my newest obsession. I went up to Leeds last week and at the Henry Moore Institute, at the… Continue reading An extending process