© Sara Bahadori

In 2018 Arper has partnered with the leading architecture and design culture magazine Icon to launch a new initiative: Icon Minds.

Icon Minds is a series of round tables taking place at the Arper showroom in London with leading figures in design and architecture around our challenges for the future.

The first session saw James McLachlan, former Icon editor In conversation with Rohan Silva, Founder of Second Home, Permilla Ohrsted, Director of architecture and design practice Permilla Ohrsted Studio, and editor and writer Tim Abrahams discuss the future of working and examine how creativity remains the one advantage we hold over the machines.

Watch Rohan Silva discuss the changing nature of the workplace:

The second roundtable focused on the future of the home, with Icon editor Priya Khanchandani In conversation with Takehiro Ikeda, Creative Director at Panasonic, and designer Alexandra Dechamps-Sonsino.

© Carl Russ-Mohl

Listen to Alex Deschamps-Sonsino, author of ‘Smarter Homes: How technology has changed your home life’:

The third episode, The Future of City, investigated how contemporary trends like urban densification and housing crisis are deeply connected to the need of creating or reinventing urban developments that become also public and communal spaces.

© Carl Russ-Mohl

Icon editor Priya Khandanchani engaged in conversation with Jamie Fobert, founder and director of Jamie Fobert Architects, designers of the RIBA Stirling Prize shortlisted project Tate St Ives, Mariana Pestana, co-founder of The Decorators, a collective developing curatorial and research projects through interventions in the public realm, and Paul Dobraszczyk, researcher and author of Future Cities.

Listen to Jamie Fobert discussing the role of the architect in the evolution of cities:

As a forward-looking company, Arper is committed to understanding how design and technology are affecting our lives.

© Sara Bahadori

Operating internationally and in a constantly evolving world, Arper believes in being open to inspiration from the creative industries; to anticipate needs, and thus, contribute to a better future in which creativity plays a crucial and transformative role.


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