An exciting day, digging deeper into Pompeii with Gillian who has excavated at Oplontis in the Pompeii region. Find out what it’s like to dig at these remarkable sites; learn how to be as welcome, familiar and at home as Romans were in towns like Pompeii & Herculaneum; and explore a 2,000 year old way of life as we take a third and final lecture tour of the day around the astonishing and varied sites of the region; Pozzuoli’s amphitheatre, sacred Cumae, party homes for the rich at Stabiae and the imperial villa at Oplontis, next door wine processing sea-front warehouses and Naples’ underground markets and the great Archaeological Museum.
About our speaker:
Gillian was awarded a BA (Hons) Latin and Ancient History, Exeter University, and then branched out into archaeology. Ex-BBC, lecturer for the British Museum and York University, an award-winning writer and author who specialises in relating the ancient world to our modern lives, in person, in the field, online and in the media.
'
Design is the animating principle of all creative processes'
Giorgio Vasari
'Design is the process of making a product or making a moment more memorable and more pleasurable'.
Sir Kenneth Grange
Design is a powerful force. It has the ability to enrich or diminish our lives. Design is all around us in the visual environment. It is all encompassing. But what is it? What is the relationship between art and design? Are they one and the same? Have their roles changed over time?
Session One: How a letter changed my life!
Exploring the scope of design, including product, graphics, advertising, exhibitions, architectural, interiors and fashion design. I will share first hand experiences as an art historian introduced serendipitously to the world of design at Pentagram design consultancy London in planning the 1986 International Design conference in Aspen Colorado on the theme of British Design.
Session Two: Innovation and Modernity
Exploring the two key words of the seminal 1925 Exposition des Arts Décoratifs in Paris and its international significance. We will 'visit' the exposition and look at its influence in the US with two case studies - The Rockefeller Center and the Waldorf-Astoria hotel. The work of legendary Eileen Gray will be (re) assessed in the context of how art/design history is written.
Session Three: Identity, Brand and Marketing
Looking at historical and contemporary examples of how designers and corporations create, develop and try to protect brand awareness - ranging from Chanel No 5 to the iconic Apple logo. And reflecting on Oliver James' observation in Affluenza ... ‘The more apparent the designer label, the lower the self-esteem of its wearer is likely to be’.
About our speaker:
Mary draws on her direct personal experience of having worked with and interviewed a wide range of leading international designers from the world of graphics, advertising, exhibitions, architectural, interiors, product, and fashion design, the SID will be explore the role of design in the creative process across a range of media. Alan Fletcher, internationally renowned graphic designer, once described design as "the art of looking sideways"
This talk will examine the best of British architecture and design from a non-technical perspective with an emphasis on British talent. It starts by examining London’s architecture following the Norman Conquest and then explores the way it has developed over the centuries right up to the present day. Following this we will be shown the brilliance of Thomas Heatherwick, an extraordinarily versatile young British designer with the Olympic Cauldron and other spectacular high-profile buildings in the UK and overseas. Finally we are introduced to the world-class art, architecture and design of London Underground. The world’s first underground railway which has a wonderful heritage of architecture, ingenious design, powerful advertising posters and unique calligraphy.
Ian Swankie is a Londoner with a passion for art and architecture. He is an official guide at Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Guildhall Art Gallery and St Paul’s Cathedral, and gives tours at each venue. He is also a qualified and active freelance London guide.