Lecture by Alice Rawsthorn, an award-winning design critic and author, whose books include "Design as an Attitude", "Hello World: Where Design Meets Life" and, most recently, "Design Emergency: Building a Better Future", co-written with Paola Antonelli, senior curator of design at MoMA, New York. Alice's books have been translated into more than a dozen languages and her weekly design column for The New York Times was syndicated worldwide for over a decade. In all her work, she champions design's potential as a social, political and ecological tool to foster positive change.
Born in Manchester and based in London, Alice is a founding member of the Writers for Liberty campaign for human rights and of the international advisory council of the DemocracyNext research and action institute. Very active in the visual arts, she has been chair of the boards of trustees of Chisenhale Gallery in London, The Hepworth Wakefield museum in Yorkshire and the contemporary dance group Michael Clark Company, as well as a longstanding trustee of the Whitechapel Gallery in London and Arts Council England. Alice is also a co-founder, with Paola, of Design Emergency, the podcast, YouTube channel and research platform, which investigates design's role in forging a fairer future. Her next book, Design and Identity, is to be published by JRP|Editions in 2026.
Craft &Care. IE School of Architecture and Design's public lecture series 2025-2026
This year's lecture series at IE School of Architecture and Design invites students to reflect on how making, maintaining and repairing—across architecture, fashion and design—can be a transformative practice of attention, commitment and responsibility. The series highlights the resurgence of craft as both contemporary practices and cultural heritage, celebrating voices from across the globe, embracing diverse material traditions and design processes, and affirming care as a transversal force that fosters well-being, social cohesion and ecological sustainability.
