Design Ventura Industry Insights Online Event 2021 – Expert Panel

Posted by Sophie Cunningham on January 26 2021

Design Ventura, Expert, Teacher

We are pleased to announce the panel of design and business professionals for our online Industry Insights event taking place on the 11th February 2021, 4 – 5pm.

The panel was made up of design and business professionals, who spoke about what they do for a living, how they got where they are and how they use creativity in their jobs, to give students an insight into industries such as fashion, architecture, product design and more.

You can watch the recording of the session below:

You can learn more about each panellist, in alphabetical order, below:

Abiola Onabule

Abiola Onabule is a London-born fashion designer with a masters in Womenswear from Central Saint Martins. She draws inspiration from her own cultural heritages, and through the stories and lives of women, abstracting, distorting and celebrating form through silhouette and cutting techniques. Her work looks to investigate the beauty and importance of individuality and difference. Abiola is one of the Design Museum’s Designers in Residence 2020.

www.abiolaonabule.com

Benni Allan

Benni Allan is founding director of EBBA Architects, an emerging architecture practice in London working across a wide range of sectors including the arts, culture, education and housing. He is also creative director and co-founder of AORA, an online virtual gallery and members platform. Benni is also Lecturer at the University of Greenwich and co-chair of the Architecture Foundation Young Trustees

www.eb-ba.co

Florence Okoye

Florence Okoye (pronouns: she/her) is a UX (User Experience) designer whose practice is based on using service design methods to inclusively design digital experiences and infrastructure. She currently works as a UX designer at the Natural History Museum and is a member of the Kiondo design collective.

www.finokoye.com

Harry Mitchell

Harry co-founded Beta Design Office, a London based multi-disciplinary design consultancy with a core focus on industrial design. An inventor and maker at heart, Harry’s mechanical intuition and love for how things work means he designs products that last. Previously Associate Director at Sebastian Conran Associates, he has worked on a variety of projects from consumer robotics through to furniture, homewares, and custom motorcycles. 

www.betadesignoffice.com

Nataly Nieves

Nataly Nieves is one of the innovation drivers of the UKI Innovation Network of Deutsche Bank. She leads the engagement activities within the Innovation Ecosystem including: Deutsche Bank colleagues, technology partners and the investor community. Nataly has a particular focus on the Corporate Bank and the Chief Risk Office, helping them solve real challenges through adopting new and emerging technology. She has been with Deutsche Bank since 2015 and worked on various digital projects across the Private and Commercial Banking division.  

www.db.com

Rob Ames

Rob Ames is Co-Founder and Creative Director of Triclops Studio, a fresh thinking, East London think tank specialising in Toy & Games concept design. Triclops also ‘Story World Build ‘ for both the Toy and Network Entertainments industry aiding them in creating synergised IP, stories & characters that can successfully translate on-screen as well as into product.

With a wealth of experience, Triclops prides itself on a straight forward approach coupled with a genuine passion for product and content in the worlds of toys, games, comics, movies & animation. Clients include – Hasbro, Mattel, LEGO, Disney, Tomy, BBC, CBeebies, Aardman to name a few.

http://www.triclopsstudio.com/

Samuel Mensah

Samuel Mensah is a London based Creative, whose experience spans from Branding to Art Direction, Digital Product, and Industrial Design. 

Mensah has used his educational foundation as a springboard for his career. He has created and been credited with crafting award-winning campaigns and products globally for clients such as Nike, Google and Virgin. 

His self-initiated work and bespoke typefaces have been featured on platforms such as Creative Review, Adobe.com, Abduzeedo, and DesignYouTrust to name a few.

Vicky Phillips

Vicky Phillips is the founder of Lightship Print Shop a surface pattern and illustration studio based on board a lightship in East London. The studio specialises in artwork for apparel, stationery and homewear and has worked with clients from around the world including American Eagle, Paperchase, Blue Mint, Peter Alexander and The Big Draw among others, with artwork appearing on pyjamas to wrapping paper, diaries to swimming trunks and even some giant wooden cubes installed in a carpark!

www.lightshipprintshop.com