The Progress 1000: London's most influential people 2018 - Visualisers: Design

Yinka Ilori
Veerle Evens
10 October 2018

Yinka Ilori

Artist/designer

Born in London to Nigerian parents, Yinka Ilori “upcycles” discarded chairs, gleaned from London’s streets, dumps and charity shops, and spirits them into stories of Nigerian folklore enhanced by traditional wax-printed fabrics. His meticulous, colourful and poetic approach has caught the imagination of the capital - and of brands such as Adidas, We Transfer, Unilever and Citizen M. He’s on board for next year’s Dulwich Pavilion, is plotting an African takeover of Bloomsbury Charleston, and has just opened a new sensory garden for people with disabilities.

Paul Priestman

Industrial designer

The Progress 1000, in partnership with the global bank Citi, is the Evening Standard’s celebration of the people who make a difference to London life. #Progress1000

Multi-award winning Priestman, international transport guru, delivers futuristic hi-speed trains and elegant comfy plane interiors all over the world. Passionately people-centred, he’s headed up design consultancy PriestmanGoode over three decades, and is the only designer Theresa May took on her trade charm offensive to China. The contract for Priestman’s trains for the New Tube for London has just been given the go-ahead. Elsewhere, he’s fine-tuning Hyperloopwhere bullet trains run in vacuum tubes at 700 mph. In the pipeline: delivery drones for London’s high-rise blocks.

Frieda Gormley and Javvy M Royle

Designers/retailers

Frieda Gormley and Javvy M Royle
Dave Benett

These partners in pattern as well as life made three explosive wallpapers for their own home in London Fields, then marketed them from their kitchen table. Now their House of Hackney is a cult store on Shoreditch High Street, printing racy patterns onto furnishings, homeware and fashion. Latest coup is the rights to re-imagine the archive of super-posh European Zuber (printing papers in Alsace since 1797) into a mad mash-up with Moroccan vibes.

John Sorrell

Chair, London Design Festival/strategist

Design innovator for 50 years, co-founder of the London Design Festival (2003), president of the London Design Biennale, founder of the Creative Industries Federation.

Frances Sorrell

Co-director, The Sorrell Foundation/educator

Chancellor of Westminster University, fellowships/doctorates galore, has for 20 years initiated teenagers with innovatory Saturday Art and Design Clubs.

Alice Rawsthorn

Critic/author

Pushing 48k followers for heavy-weight Instagram design posts, latest book proposes Design as an Attitude, winner of inaugural international Design Prize for Communication.

Daniel Charny

Co-founder, Fixperts/curator

Making mending great again, co-founder Fixperts and FixEd (now in 40 unis worldwide) - filming/posting solutions to real-life problems.

Ben Evans

Director, London Design Festival

Co-founder/director of the London Design Festival, chairs the Mayor’s Cultural Leadership Board set up last year.

Deyan Sudjic

Director, Design Museum

His museum is European Museum of the Year, topping a shortlist of 40, and welcoming its millionth visitor.

Es Devlin

Theatre designer

Beyonce’s “stage sculptor” (and Adele and U2), holder of a London Design Medal and has just put a giant red resin lion spouting poetry in Trafalgar Square.

Sebastian Conran

Product designer

Bringing digital help to the elderly – we all pat the (MiRo robotic) dog.

Sheridan Coakley

Design godfather

Launching top London designers for 30 years, initiated the Shoreditch Design Triangle, fills store with good modern stuff.

Tom Dixon

Design mogul

Transmutes golden metals into design must-haves, is colonising Kings Cross’s Coal Drops Yard, plays in designer rock band.

Hannah Emslie

Selfridges display artist

Dependably fills Selfridges’ windows with seasonal sensations... expect a musical Christmas.

Jane Withers

Curator/activist

Presiding genius of the Brompton Design District, warrior against water wastage, championing the “circular economy”.

Matthew Hilton

Furniture designer

Maestro of modern classics, fashioned bottoms-down comfort of Balzac, capital’s fave leather chair since 1991.

Claire German

Director, Design Centre Chelsea Harbour

Mothering 650 international brands at Chelsea Harbour, supervising a huge expansion.

Kate Watson-Smyth

Blogger/stylist

Authored best-selling manual Mad About The House, with a wildly popular blog of the same name.

Jeremy Myerson

Academic/activist

Humane chair of design at RCA’s Helen Hamlyn Institute, improving lives of the elderly at home and workers in the office.

Jimmy MacDonald

Exhibition director

Annually filling the Truman Brewery with sparky new design at the London Design Fair.

Martha Coates

Habitat surface designer

Adding pattern to most everything at Habitat since 2014 (and still only 30) – geometric baubles coming soon.

Marianne Shillingford

Colourist

Dulux creative director, painting our walls by remote, founder/self-funder (through a legacy) of inaugural Colour in Design Awards

Anna Murray and Grace Winteringham

Mavericks

The people of Patternity, zany zealots taking pattern everywhere – from Trafalgar Square to John Lewis.

Caroline Till and Kate Franklin

Pundits

Trend forecasters, authoring/promoting “Radical Matter” at the outer frontiers of sustainability – let’s make things from hair, straw and poo.

Marcus Fairs

Editor, Dezeen

Founded/edits webmag Dezeen, with 2.5 million monthly global visitors and a new-tech Hot List of architects and designers compiled by algorithms.

Tony Chambers

Brand and Content Director, Wallpaper magazine

Wizard of Wallpaper magazine, with a finger in everything, approachable and charming.

Robin Levien

Ceramicist

Multi-award winning veteran china man, massive sales on the mass market, from loos to gravy boats for big brands worldwide.

Adam Nathanial Furman

Architectural designer

Brash pattern-maker for ceramics, hotels and a hospital, controversially rehabilitating Post-Modernism worldwide.

Robert Pearce

Founder, The Futon Company

Made (literally) London’s first futon, now his company is funding the Small Space Furniture Awards.

Benjamin Hubert

Industrial designer

Whizziest of design kids, graduated at New Designers in 2006, opened the show this year - anyone for a digital wallet to store your cryptocurrency?

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