Ambiente 2017 UK Partner Country Exhibition

Drop Dead Designers? Graven launches campaign to get design on international agenda

Graven has launched a campaign to get the world talking about the importance of design.

Launched in Frankfurt at the world’s biggest lifestyle design fair, Ambiente, Graven has produced 10 short films, called Graven Design Logs, to highlight the important role designers play in shaping and interpreting our lives.

Written and presented by Professor Janice Kirkpatrick, who founded Graven with Ross Hunter 30 years ago, the one-minute long Graven Design Logs offer an insight into the often invisible but vital role of the designer. The series of 10 Graven Design Logs is available now on the studio’s YouTube channel.

Commenting from Ambiente 17, that supported the making of the Graven Design Logs, Professor Janice Kirkpatrick said; “For too long the key role that designers play has been overlooked. With the Graven Design Logs we aim to engage with wide audience, wherever they are, to seize their attention, help build understanding of design and get our design talent involved in projects where they can make a powerful impact on our lives.

“We set out to make the Design Logs really approachable and to unravel the mystery of the design prices so, as well as featuring objects that illustrate the role designers play in resolving our needs and problems, they feature Joseph a beautiful black Clydesdale horse and Harry the cheese-eating turkey.

“I am passionate about design and want to share with as many people as possible that enthusiasm because I know that there is way more that designers can do to help us tackle today’s challenges – from the way our hospitals or schools work to designing beautiful items for us to wear or use at home.

“Scotland has a long, prestigious and much admired heritage of fine design so it makes sense that as a Scottish designer I champion this role. Of course we need more brilliant doctors and inspiring teachers but we also need brilliant, inventive designers working alongside them to help them resolve the significant challenges they are facing. Designers are trained to think differently and identify ways to tackle and solve problems. They are an underused resource and o e we cannot afford to overlook.

“With 30-years of international design experience working with world-leading brands we think the time is right to get everyone thinking more seriously about how to use the design talent we have to address today’s challenges – whether they are big or small.”

During 2017 Janice will be giving a series of lectures, presentations and master classes to support the campaign.

She is currently a member of the Advisory Board for V&A Dundee and The Scottish Government’s Creative Industries Advisory Group.

Ambiente 2017 UK Partner Country Exhibition. Janice-Kirkpatrick, Liz Hurley and Detlef Braun

Ambiente 2017 UK Partner Country Exhibition. Janice-Kirkpatrick, Liz Hurley and Detlef Braun

About Graven
With over 30 years in experience, multi-award-winning design studio, Graven, continues to help build some of the world’s biggest brands.

Graven was one of the first UK design studios to strategically integrate brand-thinking and communications into the design of environments and places. Today they are industry-leading experts creating successful visual and environmental brands across retail, leisure, corporate and public sectors including Banking & Finance, Hotels & Leisure, Education & Health, Luxury Goods and Competitive Place.

Using their bespoke process Graven models brands to meet the needs of both boardrooms and customers, improving relationships and optimising performance. They help plan the evolution of brands and businesses and deliver their operational environments—including their visual brands and trademarks, communications and experiences, products, processes and services.

https://graven.co.uk/ @GravenHQ #GravenDesignLog

Ambiente, the leading international trade fair
Ambiente is the world’s leading international trade fair for products for the table, kitchen and household, gift articles, jewellery and fashion requisites, as well as decorative products, interior design concepts and furnishing accessories. Ambiente is ‘The Show’ for the entire sector and, thanks to its unique horizontal and vertical range of products, unrivalled worldwide. For five days in early 2016, some 4,400 exhibitors showed their new products and innovations for the coming season to 137,000 trade visitors from almost 150 countries. The world’s leading consumer-goods fair is also distinguished by a wide variety of events, promotional programmes, trend presentations and awards ceremonies. For more information, please visit their website at: www.ambiente.messefrankfurt.com

Background information on Messe Frankfurt
Messe Frankfurt is one of the world’s leading trade fair organisers, generating more than €640 million in sales and employing 2,364* people. The Messe Frankfurt Group has a global network of 30 subsidiaries and 55 international Sales Partners, allowing it to serve its customers on location in 175 countries. Messe Frankfurt events take place at approx. 50 locations around the globe. In 2016, Messe Frankfurt organised a total of 138* trade fairs, of which more than half took place outside Germany.

Comprising an area of 592,127 square metres, Messe Frankfurt’s exhibition grounds are home to ten exhibition halls. The company also operates two congress centres. The historic Festhalle, one of the most popular venues in Germany, plays host to events of all kinds. Messe Frankfurt is publicly owned, with the City of Frankfurt holding 60 percent and the State of Hesse 40 percent.

For more information, please visit their website at: www.messefrankfurt.com

*preliminary figures for 2016