Royaldesigners

If you haven't dipped into these recordings yet, we have the perfect introduction with this bite-size collage of recordings, featuring moments from a cross-section of Royal Designers.

Mike is in conversation with Luke Pearson RDI, one-half of the thriving industrial design consultancy Pearson Lloyd, which he formed with fellow RDI Tom Lloyd in 1997. Luke looks back to his Hampshire childhood, his struggle to find a creative path until late on, his period working with Ross Lovegrove RDI, the big jump to starting Pearson Lloyd, his philosophy on the ever-changing world of product design and the special collaborative relationship with the architects in the making of the Pearson Lloyd Yorkton workshop HQ in Hackney.

This is an updated RDInsights archive recording from 2015 with the landscape designer Dan Pearson RDI. During the ensuing years, Dan and his team continued to create many magnificent natural landscapes, and in 2022, Dan was awarded an OBE in the Queen's New Year's Honours list. Photo: Huw Morgan

Tom Lloyd RDI is one of the UK's foremost product designers. Along with partner Luke Pearson RDI, they run the multi-award-winning London-based industrial design and innovation consultancy, Pearson Lloyd. Tom is in conversation with Mike Dempsey RDI and shares his views on a wide range of issues facing design and industry in the 21st century, the future of the post-pandemic workplace, and much more.

Perry King RDI moved to Italy in 1964 as a consultant to Olivetti, where he worked on a wide range of products, including the classic Valentine Typewriter and the Sistema 45. He later teamed up with the Spanish designer Santiago Miranda, and in 1976, they formed the King Miranda Associati, always working closely together on the many diverse projects they undertook.

In this early RDInsights Archive recording from 2006, Gerald Scarfe RDI, one of the world's best-known political cartoonists, is in conversation with Mike Dempsey RDI. He discusses his early years and his long and highly successful career, using his recognisable ink-slashing pen style that pulled no punches when depicting public figures. After 50 years, he ended his weekly cartoon with The Sunday Times in 2017. In 2019, he published "Long Drawn Out Trip: A Memoir by Gerald Scarfe." At 88, he is still inspiring us. He lives with his wife, the actress Jane Asher.

Mike is in conversation with the graphic designer David Pearson RDI, who inhabits the highly competitive world of book cover design; he is a self-confessed Typophile, naming his company 'Type As Image' where typography is king. Ironically, one of David's most renowned covers was for George Orwell's 1984, which had all front cover types redacted as a powerful representation of that dystopian tale. When not designing, you'll find him teaching or talking to hungry young students here and abroad. In addition to his RDI mantle, he is a member of the prestigious Alliance Graphic International.

For many, the work of Sir Kenneth Grange RDI would have touched their lives at some point; think the classic TX1 taxi, the ease of taking a photo with a Kodak Instomatic, whipping up a storm in the kitchen with a Kenwood Chef or nodding off while travelling on the sleek lines of the intercity 125, or posting a letter in one of Kenneth's postboxes or writing that masterpiece under the light of the anglepoise adjustable lamp or popping a coin in the very first parking meter or keeping dry while waiting under a bus shelter. All and much more were designed by Kenneth Grange over the past six decades. They are all featured in the recently published book 'Designing the Modern World' Thames & Hudson. Photo: Andy Sewell

This is a podcast version of our RDInsights archive recording from 2013 with the award-winning architect Sarah Wigglesworth RDI MBE, who recently closed her practice. Mike Dempsey RDI caught up with Sarah to record an update and learn about her decision to move to new pastures. Photo: Jim Stephen

Mike meets with the celebrated children's author and illustrator Lauren Child RDI, who burst onto the publishing scene in 1999 with Clarice Bean - That's Me, followed in 2000 by Charlie & Lola - I Will Not Ever Never Eat a Tomato. They quickly became firm favourites to millions of children worldwide. Over the years, Lauren garnered many awards and honours, including the Kate Greenaway Medal, an MBE, CBE and Royal Designer for Industry. She was also the 2017 Children's Laureate. But Lauren’s creative path to success was long, winding, and, at times, bumpy, as you will hear in this revealing interview about Lauren's life and work.

Mike Dempsey RDI in conversation with the German artist, designer, and author Christoph Niemann Hon RDI. He rose to international fame through his highly inventive conceptual cover designs for The New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, Wire and The New York Times Magazine. His many prestigious awards and accolades include induction into the US Art Directors Hall of Fame, along with membership of the international body, Alliance Graphic International and the RSA’s Honorary Designer for Industry award. After spending over a decade in New York, Christoph moved back to Germany to settle in Berlin, where he works on international and personal projects, exhibitions, and books.

In this latest edition of RDInsights, Mike is in conversation with Lucinda Chambers RDI, the British fashion director, designer, and stylist who worked at Vogue magazine for 36 years and is also in demand as a consultant to many major fashion brands. Her creative path in that seemingly glamorous world was a combination of mishaps, luck, hard work, dedication, creative imagination and passion for her subject, which she continues in her new fashion enterprise, Collagerie, curating the best of fashion, interiors, beauty and lifestyle.

In this new episode of RDInsights, Mike is in conversation with Kate Hopkins RDI, the three-time BAFTA-awarded documentary sound designer. Her meticulous and imaginative work spanning over three decades in landmark productions like Blue Planet, Planet Earth, and Frozen Planet has enabled audiences worldwide to experience a heightened reality through her extraordinary creative sound work. In 2014, Kate was awarded The Technicolor Creative Technology Award for Women in Film and Television.

Mike Dempsey RDI interviews graphic designer Fernando Gutiérrez RDI. Born in London in the 1960s to Spanish parents, Gutiérrez displayed artistic talent from a young age, often drawing and painting on the walls of his room. Despite being initially directed towards a trade job with the London Electricity Board, his art teacher recognized his potential and steered him towards a different path. Gutiérrez’s unique upbringing contributes to his identity as a genuinely European designer, with a unique way of choosing projects and the clients he works with.

In this interview with the landscape architect Andrew Grant RDI, Mike Dempsey RDI covers Andrew’s idyllic farming childhood, the long path to discovering his creative potential, his teenage passion for the illustrator Roger Dean’s otherworldly landscapes, and the reality of his own interpretation of such a setting in Singapore that would change his life and firmly establish him on the global creative map.

Mike Dempsey in conversation with renowned architectural designer John Pawson. For over three decades, Pawson has dedicated his career to creating minimalist spaces that eliminate the unnecessary. With his passionate attention to detail and materials, he has become known for his signature style, which has brought him global fame. But as you will hear, Pawson's creative path was long and winding before he finally found his passion in architecture.

Mike interviews the aeronautics designer engineer Geoff Kirk RDI. During his long career at the Rolls-Royce Airline Business, he rose to the position of Chief Design Engineer and worked on the designs of many of the company's iconic jet engines. On retirement, he continues to pass on his design engineering knowledge as visiting professor at Queen Mary, University of London and the University of Nottingham.

John McConnell in conversation with Mike, talks about his long career as a leading light in the world of graphic design, along with his thirty-one years as director of Pentagram Design. And he explains the complexity of coordinating large corporate projects. John left Pentagram in 2005 and re-established as McConnell Design.

Sir Christopher Frayling has long been a friend and supporter of the RDI with his impressive wealth of knowledge of its history. During his extensive period as rector of The Royal College of Art, he changed the course of design education and presided over many designers who are now members of the RDI Faculty. Mike Dempsey RDI interviewed him at BAFTA in 2018.

In this interview, Mike talks to architect and product designer, Kim Colin about her early life and career in a male-dominated profession. Kim Colin became an RDI in 2015.

Sir Kenneth Adam RDI, most famous for his set designs for the James Bond films of the 1960s and 1970s, talks to Mike Dempsey RDI about the production design discipline

This RDInsights archive recording from 2009 features product designer Terence Woodgate RDI. In 2023, he left the UK to set up a new home and studio on Rocacorba Mountain, just outside of Girona in Catalonia, Spain. We look forward to seeing new work emerge from his new permanent base in these sunnier climes.

3D Designer, Thomas Heatherwick became an RDI in 2004. Listen to his RDInsight with Mike Dempsey in the form of an informal discussion.

Jenny Beavan RDI, the much-in-demand, three times Oscar-winning costume designer in conversation with Mike Dempsey RDI looking at her creative path that blossomed into an astonishing film career, with productions from ‘A Room With A View’ to ‘Gosford Park’ and ‘The Kings Speech’ to ‘Mad Max: Fury Road', just a small sampling from the 46 films she has worked on since 1979.

In this 60th edition of RDInsights, Tom Lloyd RDI takes over the reins to interview Mike Dempsey RDI about his life and work, his love of music, cinema, book cover design, dyslexia, along with his unconventional entrée into the world of graphic design.

Mike Dempsey RDI in conversation with the celebrated cartoonist, illustrator and author Steven Appleby RDI, who has been entertaining us with her wobbly line drawing style, transporting us into often darker corners of her imaginative musings on what life is really all about, for over three decades. In 2021 her graphic novel 'Dragman' was a Guardian Book of The Year, and it also won the PRIX SPÉCIAL DU JURY at the 48th International Angoulême Comic Festival in France.

Graphic designer and filmmaker Marina Willer RDI talks to Mike Dempsey RDI about her Brazilian childhood, creative education and her path to becoming the first female partner of Pentagram, London.

Mike Dempsey RDI talks with designer Charlie Paton RDI about his passion to provide a low-cost solution to one of the world's greatest needs - fresh water in hot, arid areas of our planet.

Simon Esterson RDI is the art director, co-owner and publisher of Eye magazine. It has gained a reputation as the world’s most beautiful and collectable graphic design journal and has recently published its 102nd edition since launching in 1990. Mike Dempsey RDI talks to Simon about his single-minded vision of his professional destiny at an extremely young age.

Jenny Frean RDI is a textile designer known for her refined use of colour, versatility and unique pattern construction. She talks to Mike Dempsey RDI about her long and fascinating career.

The Illustrator and author Marion Deuchars RDI believes that everyone would benefit from living a creative life. She talks about this, her childhood, work and living under lockdown in conversation with fellow RDI, Mike Dempsey.

Paule Constable RDI is an award-winning lighting designer. She has received a staggering five Laurence Olivier Awards for her lighting design work, which has included War Horse and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Listen to her conversation with fellow RDI, Mike Dempsey.

Mike Dempsey RDI explores the world and early life of cartoonist and author, Tom Gauld RDI

Service designer, Ben Terrett RDI shares his views on design in the 21st century, the future of education and the importance of collaboration.

Mike Dempsey RDI in conversation with Morag Myerscough RDI on her life and work and the revelation that she had to wait 25 years before she had found her true creative heart

In this interview, Mike talks to the pioneering modernist graphic designer, Derek Birdsall RDI about his life and long career.

Mike Dempsey RDI talks to Alison Brooks RDI, the influential architect about her life and work.

Mike Dempsey RDI talks to Tristram Carfrae RDI, the outstanding structural engineer about his life and work

Patrick Woodroffe RDI creates inspiring public events through his innovative and influential use of light, hear about his life and work in conversation with Mike Dempsey RDI

In this interview, Mike Dempsey RDI talks to Sandy Powell RDI about her highly successful career.

In this fascinating interview with Mike Dempsey RDI Ben Kelly RDI talks about his early work, from the Sex Pistols to the kids friendly space he created for London's Science Museum. His also shares his early life in Yorkshire and much more.

Graphic designer, Margaret Calvert RDI, is interviewed by fellow RDI Mike Dempsey in this absorbing podcast

Listen to Dinah Casson RDI's engaging interview with Mike Dempsey RDI as part of the RDInsight series

This RDInsight features lighting designer Mark Major RDI in conversation with Mike Dempsey RDI

Listen to Paul Williams RDI in a lively and informal interview conducted by Mike Dempsey RDI.

Join animator Nick Park RDI and graphic designer Mike Dempsey RDI for a lively discussion in this edition of the RDInsights series

Join theatre designer Richard Hudson RDI in a bright and provocative interview with Mike Dempsey RDI

Michael Foreman RDI is a British author and illustrator, one of the best-known and most prolific creators of children's books. Listen to an interview with Mike Dempsey RDI for a sharp witted and intuitive discussion about the world of illustration

Alex McDowell RDI is a British production designer and film producer. McDowell was born in Borneo to parents of English origin. Listen to this perceptive interview with Mike Dempsey RDI for an interesting peek into the world of production and film

Listen to Neisha Crosland RDI in conversation with Mike Dempsey RDI for a detailed insight into the world of textile design

Michael Wolff RDI is interviewed by Mike Dempsey RDI about the intriguing and creative world of commercial brand design

Film production designer Stuart Craig RDI is interviewed by Mike Dempsey RDI; listen in for an unmitigated exploration into the film production industry

In this interview with Mike Dempsey RDI, Sir Paul Smith RDI discusses his fascinating career and grants the listener a unique insight into the fashion industry.

David Gentleman RDI is a well-known book illustrator and stamp and poster designer, listen to this podcast for an expert-led discussion about the discipline

Listen to Mark Farrow in conversation with Mike Dempsey RDI

Listen to Georgina Von Etzdorf RDI in an interview with Mike Dempsey RDI for a professional take on the diverse world of textile design

Join Nick Butler RDI and Mike Dempsey RDI in an engaging discussion about the professional world of production design

In this interview for the RDInsights series Sue Blane RDI talks to Mike Dempsey RDI about the costume and stage design industry

In this interview as part of the RDInsights series Roger Law RDI discusses all things graphic design with Mike Dempsey

Film & TV Graphics designer Kyle Cooper became an Honorary RDI in 2001 for his illustrious contributions to the industry. Listen to his interview with Mike Dempsey RDI here

Listen to Robin Levien RDI discuss glass and ceramic design with Mike Dempsey RDI

Timothy O'Brien RDI discusses theatre design with Mike Dempsey RDI in this informative interview from the RDInsights series

Peter Brookes RDI talks to Mike Dempsey RDI about Graphic design as part of the RDInsights series.

Listen to Margaret Howell RDI in interview with Mike Dempsey RDI as part of this series

Graphic designer, Ivan Chermayeff became an Honorary RDI in 1991. Listen to his interview with Mike Dempsey RDI for exclusive excerpts from the RDI award winner's career

Design engineer, Chris Wise became an RDI in 1998 and in this interview from the RDInsights series he discusses his industry with Mike Dempsey

Malcolm Garrett RDI discusses new media design with Mike Dempsey RDI.

Listen to Pearce Marchbank RDI in discussion with Mike Dempsey RDI

Listen to Betty Jackson RDI in this engaging discussion with Mike Dempsey RDI

Costume designer Anthony Powell RDI discusses the industry in this interview with Mike Dempsey RDI

Listen to documentary filmmaker, Arnold Schwartzman RDI talk to Mike Dempsey RDI about his unique experience in the industry.

Illustrator, Sara Fanelli became an Honorary RDI in 2006. Listen to her interview with Mike Dempsey RDI as part of the RDInsight series