BIID Celebrates Successful Annual Conference, AGM and Summer Party 2015

Message from BIID President Dan Hopwood

Thursday 18th June saw the Institute host another hugely successful Annual Conference, AGM and Summer Party.

The theme of this year’s conference was Who Do We Think We Are? and our speakers and audience explored this topic from many different viewpoints. In addition to being our most well attended conference so far, it was perhaps one of the most controversial and provocative, with the subjects of interior designers in popular culture and the rise of the developer designer inspiring some of the most heated debates. I would like to thank our superb line up of speakers – Professor Anne Massey, Tom Dyckhoff, Michelle Ogundehin, Ann Booth-Clibborn, Zeev Aram OBE, Tomoko Azumi, Jenny Naylor, Rose Etherington, Gemma Smith and Anna Burles – and of course our Chair, Aidan Walker. I would also like to take this opportunity to congratulate the recipients of our very well deserved Honorary Fellowships – Zeev Aram OBE, Christine Losecaat, Dids Macdonald OBE, Kevin McCloud MBE and Martin Roth. The day wouldn’t have been possible without the generous support of our sponsors Front, Heals, Roca and eporta. Attendees were also able to enjoy our interactive installation celebrating 50 years of the Institute, designed by students from Kingston University's MA Curating Contemporary Design course, and sponsored by the Urban Electric Company.

The AGM which immediately followed the Annual Conference was, as always, a fantastic opportunity for the Institute to engage directly with members. Minutes of the meeting will be available to download from the Members Area shortly. We also used the occasion of the AGM to present our two annual member awards. The CPD Award, for the most CPD points accrued in the 2014-2015 membership year was awarded to Rowena Vaughan. The BIID Merit Award is awarded each year in recognition of excellence in interior design practice, contribution to the development of the Institute and a commitment to the wider field of design education. I was honoured to present this year’s award to Rosemary Hamilton.

The evening was capped off with a wonderful Summer Party, hosted by Front London. Our hosts embraced a 1960s theme in music, food and decor, in honour of the Institute’s founding year of 1965, and members and their guests stopped traffic as the party spilled out of the Bruton Place showroom.

For photos from the day and evening please have a look at our Facebook page and to read the story of the day in tweet form please click here. We will have further information in this week’s newsletter.

If you didn’t get a chance to give us your feedback on the day we would still love to hear from you. Just drop us a line at info@BIID.org.uk. We are also always open to any suggestions for speakers, themes or topics for future events, so please don’t hesitate to share any good ideas.

And finally, I am delighted to announce that CPD Director Susie Rumbold is the new BIID President Elect and will be taking over from me as President in June 2016. More information on this exciting development will be available next week.

With very best wishes,