We’re delighted to announce the speakers for the upcoming Pathways to Making II Symposium.

Download this PDF for a detailed programme of the day’s activities.

Oluwaseyi Sosanya

Oluwaseyi Sosanya is a design engineer based in London. He is passionate about traditional forms of making, current mass and digital production practices and enjoys working at the intersection of these practices to develop products with meaningful user experiences.

He has seven years of work experience in product design and engineering with expertise in manufacturing technologies. His work has been globally recognised and has been awarded a James Dyson foundation award for his work in design and engineering with the development of new digital weaving and manufacturing techniques.

Oluwaseyi is the CEO of Gravity Sketch; together with the team, he has focused his work on the future of digital creation tools and has brought a series of propositions that challenge today’s ideas of digital and physical creation: 3D Weaver, Gravity Sketch, and LegoX are among his most widely recognized projects.

Website: sosafresh.com

Instagram: @sosa_fresh

Shelley James

Shelley James trained in textiles in Paris and began her career as a design consultant for international brands including Visa International, Shell and Cancer Research UK. She went back to university to learn about digital production techniques and started to experiment with printmaking and glass. Shelley was fascinated by the compelling visual illusions generated by this remarkable material and started to work with scientists to understand and explore these phenomena.

She holds a PhD from the Royal College of Art, and City and Guilds qualifications in electrical installations and on-site testing. She is Associate Artist at King’s College, London and at the Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of London.

Recent projects include the Jerwood Maker’s Award, the Medical Research Council Centenary and Utopia exhibitions at Somerset House, the Royal Society Summer Science Festival, Collect at the Saatchi Gallery, V&A Digital Design Weekend and the European Conference on Visual Perception, Berlin.

Current collaborations include constructing quasi-periodic symmetries with Sir Roger Penrose and crystallographer Professor Brian Sutton, designing a new Artificial Anatomies course at King’s College, and researching the impact of patterns on walking behaviour with the psychology department at Bristol University.

Website: shelleyjames.co.uk 

Twitter: @shelleyjglass

Instagram: @shelleyjames1

Linda Brothwell

Linda Brothwell is renowned for initiating a repair movement in the arts. She was shortlisted for Design of the Year in 2009 for her work in Lisbon at Experimenta Biennale titled ‘Bench Repair Project’ and was awarded the Jerwood Makers Open in 2013 for ‘Acts of Care: The Sheffield Edition’, the first edition in the Acts of Care series.

She is currently pioneering a new understanding of the significance of British crafts skills and tools illustrating the importance of their value to economic, social and cultural development. This study will inform Linda’s new series of nationwide ‘Acts of Care’ in partnership with museums and galleries UK wide.

Linda’s work is housed in the V&A Museum and the Royal College of Art collection. She has exhibited her work in the UK and internationally for the British Council, The Design Museum, the Korean National University of Cultural Heritage, The Royal Society for Arts and COLLECT. She lectures and participates in debates at Sheffield Hallam University, COLLECT, Jerwood Space and on behalf of the British Council.

Website: lindabrothwell.com 

Twitter: @lindabrothwell  

Instagram: @lindabrothwell

Ruth Singer

Ruth Singer specialises in creating arts projects alongside partners including heritage and community organisations, universities and galleries. Over the last dozen years, Ruth has developed a niche in devising and getting funding for the kind of projects she wants to run with creative practice at their core. She has an established practice in textiles, exhibits widely and has won awards for her solo and collaborative work.

Website: ruthsinger.com 

Twitter: @RuthSinger

Instagram: @ruthsingertextiles