Disegno Podcasts

Screens dominate contemporary technology and the home, but we are regularly encouraged to see them as non-objects: glass voids that present a surface and nothing more. But what happens when we start to think of screens as objects in themselves, and how might we encourage more meaningful, intuitive interactions with technology by doing so? In this episode of Where Next? Conversations with Map Project Office, host Oli Stratford is joined by Jake Weir, Fredrik Hellberg, Lara Lesmes, Rowan Williams and Rhiarna Dhaliwal to discuss the role of screens in design.

We often think of technology and nature as separate things, but what happens when they come together? In this podcast, recorded live from the heart of Maison&Objet, host Oli Stratford discusses different approaches of combining technology and ecology with designers Simon Dupety, Suzanna Laskaridis and Felix Rasehorn. The episode digs into how new brands and young designers are seeking to create a more transparent, optimistic and less ecologically damaging design industry.

How can design connect to nature? At January's 2024 edition of Maison&Objet, Disegno created a pair of podcasts, recorded live from the heart of the fair, to interrogate this question. The first episode sees the journal's editor-in-chief, Oli Stratford, speak with Mathieu Lehanneur about Outonomy, an installation Lehanneur created as the fair's Designer of the Year. Lehanneur reflects on how his vivid yellow pavilion brings into question the binary ways we approach technology and nature, and instead encourages us to blur the lines between these two spheres.

“Creativity” has become a buzzword – a tagline that brands and individuals deploy to describe how they approach business. But what do we mean when we use this word so freely, and what role can designers play within a business climate that already professes to be “creative”? In this episode of Where Next? Conversations with Map Project Office, host Oli Stratford is joined by Mitzi Okou, Jay Osgerby, Andu Masebo and Oskar Smolokowski to discuss how our understanding of creativity is shifting to become more collaborative.

The built environment is rarely designed with physical, cognitive or intellectual disabilities in mind, leaving our cities difficult to navigate, unwelcoming, and potentially dangerous for large parts of the population. So what can be done to make moving around more inclusive for everyone? In the final episode of season one of Re-routing the City, host India Block invites guests Dom Hymas and Ruth Ross-Macdonald to discuss how new navigation technologies can create opportunities to improve and prioritise safe and comfortable mobility for all.

What does mobility mean in the 21st century? In this episode of Where Next? Conversations with Map Project Office, host Oli Stratford is joined by designers Will Verity, Dr. Jiayu Wu, Andy Wheel and Liam Young to discuss how autonomous and electric vehicles are softening the barriers between private cars and leisure spaces.With a rising interest in how we spend our time in cars, does the car itself need to be redesigned? And who is best positioned to create the new infrastructures, spaces and behaviours that these vehicles will demand?

In the second episode of Re-routing the City host India Block is joined by Tim Fendley and Julia Thrift to discuss the ways in which different road users occupy public space. The conversation ranges from the positive impacts that well-designed roads can have on health, to the need for governments to take more holistic, long-term approaches to creating safe and comfortable cities for all. Can pedestrians, cyclists, cars, scooters and others co-exist in urban spaces harmoniously? How do modern wayfinding systems such as Legible London deter vandalism? And do we need a new code of conduct to ensure everybody can enjoy and use these spaces safely?

In this inaugural episode of Re-routing the City host India Block is joined by Tim Fendley and Kate Jeffery to discuss the science behind our sense of direction. From discussion as to whether rats and humans share a universal internal compass to the study of yellow as a naturally understood warning colour, the conversation moves in multiple directions to ask: can design help our brains move more smoothly through busy spaces?