2023 FESTIVAL SPEAKERS & CONTRIBUTORS
DAVID SHILLINGLAW
David Shillinglaw is a UK based artist, best known for his works exploring human nature, success and failure, and the language people use to describe their experiences. David’s practice shifts between the street and studio using a variety of materials and mediums creating work that ranges from drawings and collages to large scale murals and installations. David Shillinglaw lives and works in Margate, UK
"David Shillinglaw explores the conflicted, messy human condition: a relentless need for control within a disordered world". Emily Steer, Editor of Elephant magazine
Photo credit: Joanna Dudderidge
SHELLY GROTTO
Shelly Grotto is an ornate subterranean drag queen, currently ranked as the No. 1 visitor attraction in Margate. Alongside her notable performance accolades and self appointed crowning as queen of Margate's the Shell Grotto, she is a keen zinester. Shelly has published zines on a wide array of subjects including: how to become a drag queen, Queer Cuntry and the history of Margate drag.
Shelly will be discussing her zine practice and creative ethos whilst giving you a draggy starting point to make your own zine in a workshop for the Margate Festival of Design.
GREG BUNBURY
Greg Bunbury is a Graphic Designer, Creative Consultant and D&I consultant. His mission is to change the world by design, enabling purpose-driven businesses and organisations to connect with diverse audiences.
Greg was formerly Head of Creative for an award-winning agency, but as a passionate advocate for equality and antiracism his work shifted to a social focus. In addition to design, he now advises on diversity & inclusion, and delivers workshops on socially conscious design. Greg is the founder of Black Outdoor Art, a project that uses outdoor advertising space as a platform for creative Black expression.
BECKY THOMAS
Becky Thomas (beckyismyname) is a graphic designer and illustrator based in Thanet. With over 20 years industry experience she has worked with many local businesses as well as establishing
Margate’s first post-graduate course in Visual Communication at The Margate School.
Becky set up the screen-printing facility at the School and runs regular workshops in the space. She has had a passion for print since completing her degree in Print Media at London College of Communication in the late nineties.
At the festival this year Becky will be hosting a 'design activism' half day screen-printing workshop in the TMS Print Space.
EMMI SALONEN
Emmi Salonen / Studio Emmi
Everything Emmi does is underpinned by a simple but powerful idea: Positive Creativity. From the creative process to the final output, Emmi believes design can bring people together, create sustainable choices and foster wellbeing.
She set up Studio Emmi in 2005 to partner with clients and creatives who want to make a positive contribution to society and planet. Emmi is a Graphic Designer, Creative Director and certified Happiness Facilitator. She regularly gives talks about Creative Ecosystem, a model she has created guiding creatives in their wellbeing and careers.
JIM SUTHERLAND
Studio Sutherl& was set in London up by Jim Sutherland in 2014. He has rebranded the Natural History Museum, Wimbledon Lawn Tennis, The Arts Society, Williams F1, Prostate Cancer UK, National Museums Scotland, Welsh National Opera, and Start-rite shoes. He has designed over 50 stamps to date for Royal Mail including the Agatha Christie set in 2016. Awards include 97 pencils at D&AD. He has judged D&AD nine times (including Foreman of the Branding Jury in 2023). Studio Sutherl& was the most awarded design studio at D&AD in 2017, and came number one in the Computer Arts UK studio rankings in 2017 and 2018.
Jim will join Aidan McCarthy in conversation about their collaborative project, 'Compartment Syndrome'
AIDAN McCARTHY
Aidan is a London based photographer and film maker, with a background in the fashion industry. He is very interested in examining social and political issues through the lens, particularly relating to identity and civil liberties.
Recently he has collaborated with Sutherl&Editions to produce ‘Compartment Syndrome’.
The series was photographed over six years from 2015 to 2021 in the village of Cliffsend, on the Kent coast. Aidan will join Jim Sutherland in conversation about this work.
SUPERMUNDANE (ROB LOWE)
Rob Lowe (also know as Supermundane) is an artist using instinctive geometry and universal humanism, along with his distinctive humour and hyper-colourful imagination, to play with optical effects and the meaning of words.
He sees lines as deeply human things: both physically and metaphorically.
He has been published and exhibited worldwide and has worked with charities such as Comic Relief, British Red Cross and War Child. Permanent installations can be seen in Leeds train station, Great Ormond Street
& Covent Garden.
CAT DREW / THE DESIGN COUNCIL
Cat Drew is the Chief Design Officer at the Design Council where she champions Design for Planet, bringing together practitioners from across the design economy to develop new regenerative practice and create the conditions for designers to do their best work. Previously, Cat has held leadership positions at FutureGov and Uscreates, was a co-founder of the UK Government’s Policy Lab, and combines 10 years of experience in Government with an MA in Graphic Design.
She speaks widely about the value of design and co-presented BBC Radio 4 The Fix and is a member of D&AD’s Impact Council.
LAURA KNIGHT
Laura Knight leads the MA Communicating Complexity at Central Saint Martins where she works with students to harness communication design to improve individual, institutional and public engagement with our most pressing, complex issues. Laura was formerly a design director at a data visualisation studio and continues to work with the Guardian to develop the capacity of individuals and businesses in visual storytelling.
ANOTHER ACRONYM & HANNAH WARNER
Another Acronym is another branding studio run by Katie and Noel Leeman, a dynamic duo whose design and branding skills complement each other. As an agency for good, they now focus their time and effort working for mental health and sustainability clients like Music Support, Forward Trust and The Sustainability Show. Hannah Warner Creative Hannah supports businesses across the UK with graphic design, marketing and communications.
DR PAUL RENNIE
Paul Rennie is acknowledged as a leading authority on the historical development of graphic design in Britain. Paul combines his academic work with collecting vintage posters and curating the Rennies Seaside Modern Gallery with his wife, Karen. Back in the early 2000s Paul was fortunate to be given the chance to look at some posters by Tom Eckersley and to find a story. He chose to focus on a group of accident prevention posters designed by Tom during WW2. He was awarded a doctorate for this work. Paul is also a Tutor on the Visual Communication Design course at The Margate School and a Lecturer at Central Saint Martins (UAL).
MARGATE TECH CLUB
Margate Tech Club is a free drop-in within a safe and welcoming space where you and your family can explore and play with tech, under the supervision and guidance of helpful experts. The Tech Club includes a workshop activity, which you can sign up for on the day.
VISUAL COMMUNICATION STUDENT'S GRADUATE SHOW
SIGHTLINES is the end-of-year showcase from this year’s Visual Communication students at The Margate School. The show examines the seaside as a place for pleasure and therapy, through light, colour and perspective. Over a year-long course with modules in Visual Language, Typography and Image, the students have explored the interplay between society and nature at the seaside, through the lens of design. seaside motifs.
