The British Council organised a series of activities as part of London Design Festival 2008. The festival, now in its sixth year, highlights design from across a wide range of disciplines from craft to architecture via furniture, industrial and graphic design, multi-media technology and fashion.

Among the events taking place were the International Young Design Entrepreneur (IYDE) award, the inaugural final of the UK Young Design Entrepreneur (UKYDE) award, and the first meeting of the alumni network from previous Young Design Entrepreneur awards. Our Design & Architecture team also had a stand at 100% Design showcasing the work of some of the finalists in the Young Design Entrepreneur awards programme.

International Young Design Entrepreneur

Siddhartha Das from India became the fourth winner of the prestigious International Young Design Entrepreneur 2008 award at a ceremony at 100% Design. Peter Massey, the Exhibition Director of 100% Design, read out the judges' citation for Das, before presenting him with the award.

Siddartha gave an excellent presentation, demonstrating a thorough knowledge of the local Indian design scene and proving that he plays an absolutely vital role in it. Both a designer and a design distributor abroad, he possesses a remarkable creative judgment and an acute knowledge of design processes from manufacture all the way into retail.

Das takes away a cheque for £7,500 which will be used to develop a programme between the UK and India.

All nine of the finalists came to the UK during September 2008 to visit London and Glasgow and took part in valuable networking sessions with leading UK design sector figures, with a principle aim being that they discover how the UK sector works and what drives the market. In addition they also found out how to do business in the UK and, importantly, with one another.

The IYDE award showcases new trends in design from emerging economies and this year’s finalists represented work from Egypt, India, Lebanon, Malaysia, Poland, Slovenia, South Africa, Taiwan and Turkey.

To find out more about the finalists and see examples of their work please click here.

UK Young Design Entrepreneur

Deborah Szebeko, the Director of London-based ThinkPublic, has won the inaugural UK Young Design Entrepreneur 2008 award. Szebeko is a pioneer in the field of 'co-design'; what she describes as designing with, rather than for, people to create sustainable solutions to social challenges.

Michael-George Hemus, a Director of Hulger Limited, and Russell Pinch, Director of furniture design company Pinch, were also honoured at the ceremony at 100% Design. They will join Szebeko on a two week tour of the Indian design industry in early 2009, intended to provide them with a real insight into how the sector works in one of the world's fastest developing and most dynamic economies.

The tour will open the door to India's design sector, from the influences of traditional crafts to contemporary forms of design for graphics, products, interiors and the built environment. The group will meet leading figures from the design sector in India and have the chance to learn first hand about how business is done there.

The UKYDE award highlights the contribution that young entrepreneurs make to the development of the UK’s design industry, through their work and understanding of the market.

To find out more about the finalists and see examples of their work please click here.

Young Design Entrepreneur Alumni seminar

The first meeting of the alumni network from previous IYDE awards took place just before 100% Design with a two day symposium for previous finalists of the award. The seminar content was developed in consultation with the IYDE alumni – with key topics including sustainable and social design, and the balance between business and creativity for a design companies - and the British Council put together a line up of speakers to meet with the alumni to inform and foster these discussions.

At the end of the symposium the IYDE alumni elected a Chair and team of four Vice Chairs who will work between the British Council and the alumni to develop the network.