Conference with designs on national recognition

Aug 28 2008 by Alistair Houghton, Liverpool Daily Post

A MAJOR design conference lined up for Liverpool in October is a sign the city’s design sector is becoming a force to be reckoned with, the body promoting the city’s creative sector says.

As revealed in this month’s LDP Business magazine, the city will play host to the new Liverpool Design Symposium, billed as the city’s biggest-ever design conference.

It follows the successful Design Show Liverpool in May, which saw thousands of visitors flock to the Baltic Triangle’s Novas Contemporary Urban Centre.

Kevin McManus, director of Merseyside ACME, says the two events will help put Liverpool design on the national map.

October’s Design Symposium was created by creative agencies Uniform, Smiling Wolf and Black & Ginger. It will include workshops and speeches from leading figures in the design industry, including Matt Pyke, founder of London studio Universal Everything.

It is supported by industry body the Design Business Association and educational charity D&AD, as well as by Merseyside creative industry bodies Design Initiative and ACME.

Mr McManus said: “We’ve certainly been seen as lagging behind places like Manchester, and certainly London, in terms of design. This is partly about redressing the balance – Design Show Liverpool, for example, helped put the city on the map.

“It’s the kind of thing people would normally have to travel to London to get involved with. It’s showing that the design sector in Liverpool is maturing and getting more competitive.

“In the last few years, Liverpool design companies, such as those involved with the Symposium, have been holding their own nationally and internationally. Hopefully the rest of the country will sit up and take notice.”

Mr McManus said the symposium also aimed to show local businesses that they did not have to go to Manchester or London to find top design talent.

He added: “One of the messages we are trying to get across at ACME is the strength of the design offering in Liverpool and the region. We’ve already got some great companies here and we need to get that message across locally and nationally. Local people are perhaps unaware of what we’ve got.”

Liverpool Design Symposium will be held on October 23 at St George’s Hall, Liverpool. For information visit www.liverpool designsymposium.com

FOR more on the Design Symposium see the latest edition of LDP Business magazine, which is being distributed throughout the region from this week

alistairhoughton