Royaldesigners

If you haven't dipped into these recordings yet, we have the perfect introduction with this bite-size collage of recordings, featuring moments from a cross-section of Royal Designers.

Join Mike as he chats with landscape architect Johanna Gibbons RDI, whose nearly 40-year practice is dedicated to reconnecting urban spaces with nature at a time when our planet needs it most. Johanna’s designs foster resilience, support ecological and human health, and unite communities, offering a hopeful vision for a more sustainable future. Johanna’s passion is palpable, especially for her love of trees. Photo by © Sarah Blee

Mike is in conversation with Luke Pearson RDI, one-half of the thriving industrial design consultancy Pearson Lloyd, which he formed with fellow RDI Tom Lloyd in 1997. Luke looks back to his Hampshire childhood, his struggle to find a creative path until late on, his period working with Ross Lovegrove RDI, the big jump to starting Pearson Lloyd, his philosophy on the ever-changing world of product design and the special collaborative relationship with the architects in the making of the Pearson Lloyd Yorkton workshop HQ in Hackney.

This is an updated RDInsights archive recording from 2015 with the landscape designer Dan Pearson RDI. During the ensuing years, Dan and his team continued to create many magnificent natural landscapes, and in 2022, Dan was awarded an OBE in the Queen's New Year's Honours list. Photo: Huw Morgan

Tom Lloyd RDI is one of the UK's foremost product designers. Along with partner Luke Pearson RDI, they run the multi-award-winning London-based industrial design and innovation consultancy, Pearson Lloyd. Tom is in conversation with Mike Dempsey RDI and shares his views on a wide range of issues facing design and industry in the 21st century, the future of the post-pandemic workplace, and much more.

Perry King RDI moved to Italy in 1964 as a consultant to Olivetti, where he worked on a wide range of products, including the classic Valentine Typewriter and the Sistema 45. He later teamed up with the Spanish designer Santiago Miranda, and in 1976, they formed the King Miranda Associati, always working closely together on the many diverse projects they undertook.

In this early RDInsights Archive recording from 2006, Gerald Scarfe RDI, one of the world's best-known political cartoonists, is in conversation with Mike Dempsey RDI. He discusses his early years and his long and highly successful career, using his recognisable ink-slashing pen style that pulled no punches when depicting public figures. After 50 years, he ended his weekly cartoon with The Sunday Times in 2017. In 2019, he published "Long Drawn Out Trip: A Memoir by Gerald Scarfe." At 88, he is still inspiring us. He lives with his wife, the actress Jane Asher.

Mike is in conversation with the graphic designer David Pearson RDI, who inhabits the highly competitive world of book cover design; he is a self-confessed Typophile, naming his company 'Type As Image' where typography is king. Ironically, one of David's most renowned covers was for George Orwell's 1984, which had all front cover types redacted as a powerful representation of that dystopian tale. When not designing, you'll find him teaching or talking to hungry young students here and abroad. In addition to his RDI mantle, he is a member of the prestigious Alliance Graphic International.

For many, the work of Sir Kenneth Grange RDI would have touched their lives at some point; think the classic TX1 taxi, the ease of taking a photo with a Kodak Instomatic, whipping up a storm in the kitchen with a Kenwood Chef or nodding off while travelling on the sleek lines of the intercity 125, or posting a letter in one of Kenneth's postboxes or writing that masterpiece under the light of the anglepoise adjustable lamp or popping a coin in the very first parking meter or keeping dry while waiting under a bus shelter. All and much more were designed by Kenneth Grange over the past six decades. They are all featured in the recently published book 'Designing the Modern World' Thames & Hudson. Photo: Andy Sewell

This is a podcast version of our RDInsights archive recording from 2013 with the award-winning architect Sarah Wigglesworth RDI MBE, who recently closed her practice. Mike Dempsey RDI caught up with Sarah to record an update and learn about her decision to move to new pastures. Photo: Jim Stephen

Mike meets with the celebrated children's author and illustrator Lauren Child RDI, who burst onto the publishing scene in 1999 with Clarice Bean - That's Me, followed in 2000 by Charlie & Lola - I Will Not Ever Never Eat a Tomato. They quickly became firm favourites to millions of children worldwide. Over the years, Lauren garnered many awards and honours, including the Kate Greenaway Medal, an MBE, CBE and Royal Designer for Industry. She was also the 2017 Children's Laureate. But Lauren’s creative path to success was long, winding, and, at times, bumpy, as you will hear in this revealing interview about Lauren's life and work.

Mike Dempsey RDI in conversation with the German artist, designer, and author Christoph Niemann Hon RDI. He rose to international fame through his highly inventive conceptual cover designs for The New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, Wire and The New York Times Magazine. His many prestigious awards and accolades include induction into the US Art Directors Hall of Fame, along with membership of the international body, Alliance Graphic International and the RSA’s Honorary Designer for Industry award. After spending over a decade in New York, Christoph moved back to Germany to settle in Berlin, where he works on international and personal projects, exhibitions, and books.

In this latest edition of RDInsights, Mike is in conversation with Lucinda Chambers RDI, the British fashion director, designer, and stylist who worked at Vogue magazine for 36 years and is also in demand as a consultant to many major fashion brands. Her creative path in that seemingly glamorous world was a combination of mishaps, luck, hard work, dedication, creative imagination and passion for her subject, which she continues in her new fashion enterprise, Collagerie, curating the best of fashion, interiors, beauty and lifestyle.

In this new episode of RDInsights, Mike is in conversation with Kate Hopkins RDI, the three-time BAFTA-awarded documentary sound designer. Her meticulous and imaginative work spanning over three decades in landmark productions like Blue Planet, Planet Earth, and Frozen Planet has enabled audiences worldwide to experience a heightened reality through her extraordinary creative sound work. In 2014, Kate was awarded The Technicolor Creative Technology Award for Women in Film and Television.