The New Nation - Internet Edition

Cultural Desk

The closing session of New Silk Road Design Workshop, Part 2 is going to be held today at 5pm at Jute Diversification Promotion Centre (JDPC).

Mr Md Fazlul Haque, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Textiles and Jute is going to be the Chief Guest of the closing session. Dr June Rollinson, Director British Council, will be present as the Special Guest. Dr A B M Abdullah, Executive Director, JDPC, will preside over the session.

This workshop is part of the regional project New Silk Road promoting arts and culture of the Central and South Asia region by the British Council. The workshop is lead by British designer Linden Davies and product development expert Matthew Lewis.

Linden Davies is a Product Designer at Conran & Partners, one of the the most widely recognised names and a trusted source of good design, incorporating product, graphic, architectural and interior design from its London based studio. Linden has been working with Sebastian Conran for around four years, having previously worked with the team as an intern. Linden started working with Conran & Partners in 2004 and has been involved in many successful design collaborations including a range of kitchen products for Nigella Lawson's Living Kitchen, home lighting for Yamagiwa, luggage for outdoor brand Rohan and many more UK and international projects with the Conran design team. Linden believes in the power of stories, innovation and emotion to help drive design work, as well as adding value through conceptual thinking and strong aesthetic sense.

Mathew Lewis is the Centre Manager for Metropolitan Works, London's foremost Creative Industries Centre, which now incorporates Furniture Works, Gold Works and Digital Manufacturing Centre. Prior to this Mathew established Design Brokerage Service at Hidden Art and played a fundamental role in the development of London manufactured furniture brand 'Isos' for Furniture Works and Business Link for London. With a Masters degree in Design and Production from Bournemouth University and Hook Park, Matthew's career has centred around product development and manufacturing. In the past 15 years, Matthew has worked as Product Development Manager at Purves & Purves as well as developing products for a string of high profile retailers including John Lewis, Homebase, Heals and Conran. Continuing his product development work at Metropolitan Works and Furniture Works, Matthew is now creating a modular 'New Product Development Programme' to train creative and production industry professionals in the process and management of developing a new product for market.