Creative Review Panel - Careers in Design
Thursday 6 July
13:00 - 14.00 pm
Panel
Eliza Williams – Editor, Creative Review
Tom Faulkner – Furniture Designer
Heather Williams – Trend Strategist, Hallmark
Olivia Ahmad – Artistic Director, Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration
Mathew Freeman – President, British Institute of Interior Design
Creative Review’s Editor, Eliza Williams hosts a Careers in Design panel discussion joined by industry experts with established careers in the sector including Furniture Designer Tom Faulkner, Heather Williams, Trend Strategist at Hallmark, and Olivia Ahmad, Curator and Artistic Director, The Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration.
All talks and workshops are free to attend with a valid ticket to New Designers. To attend a talk or workshop please book your ticket to New Designers, making sure to book on the corresponding day. You may then reserve your place to attend the talk or workshop using the link below.
Tom Faulkner designs and makes exquisite and distinctive furniture and accessories. Almost every piece is handmade in the Tom Faulkner workshop in Wiltshire. Tom’s signature design qualities are clean lines, simplicity and beautiful materials. Loved by private clients and professional interior designers alike, Tom’s show-stopping furniture is equally at home in contemporary and traditional settings. The firm is celebrated for its faultless standards of quality and exceptional service.
Heather Williams (Trend Strategist, Hallmark)
Originally trained in Graphic Communication and Typography Heather began her career in children’s book publishing, then moving into the greetings card industry where she has in fact spent almost half of her life.
Heather has worked across many different aspects of the ‘greetings’ industry from toys and games to cards and wrap, innovation and currently as a Trend Strategist.
An ever-curious creative Heather likes to challenge the norm, question what is happening around us and formulate direction for Hallmark in our near and more distant future.
Heather is a change seeker, wholehearted enthusiast for all things creative and is fascinated by the skills and interests of new and emerging talent as a signifier for the new.
Olivia Ahmad is a UK-based curator and editor specialising in illustration and graphics. She is Artistic Director at Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration in London, where she makes exhibitions and commissions new illustration. From 2018-2021 Olivia was editor of Varoom, the contemporary illustration magazine published by the AOI.
Mathew Freeman is a BIID Registered Interior Designer and founder of Freeman Studio which specialises in high-end residential interior design. He has over twenty years experience working as an interior designer in London.
Mathew studied Interior Architecture at University Wales Institute Cardiff. After graduating he joined HLM where he became Creative Director of their luxury residential brand, 33 Interiors. In 2018 he joined Goddard Littlefair, working on high-end residential schemes with private clients, multi-unit developments and show apartments.
Mathew joined the BIID Professional Practice Committee in 2015 and went on to chair the Membership Committee. He also represents the BIID on the Business Panel of the Construction Industry Council. Mathew is passionate about passing on his knowledge and nurturing the next generation of designers and he is closely involved with the Institute’s work with students and educators.