Introduction

Alec Robertson, DDR4 Originator and Co-convenor.

Welcome. It was my pleasure to put an event together bridging two communities.

Although I enjoy conferences with papers, what I really like is the talking, the coffees, the dinners and the music. So I thought 'why not just have those things' and see how it went, on a very spontaneous basis.

The way this event came about a year or so ago now might be of interest.

I approached the Royal College of Art Society, (an long established Alumni organisation) as I was a member. I went to a Committee meeting and said 'How about a day event on design and research’ - a conference?'

Well... the room went very quite! Chairs moved back from the table. I might have imagined something, but I thought a crucifix was held up in my direction (just joking). After the quiet…the silence, Diana said 'Yes. This is important. We need to do this kind of thing. We need to reach out to the research community'.

From there it motored, and thanks too to Ismail Saray, the previous Chair of the RCA Society, who supported the event.

I went to the Design Research Society Council and proposed my idea of a day event on design and research’ at the Royal College of Art with the RCA Society. I suggested that it could have some Awards there and an OGM too, being a nice central venue. A few minutes later, after everyone had sat down and had finished hitting me over the head with metaphorical rolled up newspapers,there was a 'maybe,maybe'.

Thankfully they both thought that it was time to help an event like this happen.

Over the year we had ambitions plans. One was the audio webcast but unfortunately we just ran out of time. We were working on it late yesterday. An audio webcast is like a radio programme that anyone around the world can listen in to. It was a first time this was attempted, and there are technical issues to do with firewalls, and security, which we could not resolve in time. But we hope to provide some streaming of audio later on.

I would like to now introduce Diana Brown, Vice Chair of the RCA Society, and co-convenor of this event, whose name you have seen on many emails over the past months.

Diana Brown. DDR4 Co-convenor

Hello. I would like to welcome you here on behalf of the Royal College of Art Society.

I don’t think when Alec suggested to have this conference we were against it, I think it is more a case that as artists and designers we are reluctant to divide the two subjects. We see the one as automatically part of the other - research as part of design. But that is just my opinion and obviously we are all here to learn.

I would like to encourage any of you eligible for membership to do so at some point, as any society is always a total of its members and their interests.

May I now call upon Peter Town, Chair of the RCA Society to give an address from Christopher Frayling, who can't be with us today.

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