Seminar Speakers

Angus Gibsom, SYMM

Angus Gibson is a pioneer of the British audio visual industry, starting his first business in the early 1980's and more recently joining Symm as a Director to head up its London office. Symm is synonymous with quality, craftsmanship and fine finishes in its work as building contractors for high end residential and new build projects. His wide experience working with many of the country's leading interior designers and architects gives him a unique understanding to provide the most effective and least complicated solution.  Angus has always been passionate about music which led him into the design of audio and visual systems for the home, after 30 years in the industry his view about technology is simple ‘ embrace technology and feel comfortable with it, don’t let it rule your life’

Nayna Mcintosh, Marks and Spencer

Nayna joined Marks and Spencer in 2005 as the Head of GM Retail, following on from this she was asked to head up their £500m Store Modernisation Programme specifically responsible for Store Planning and Presentation.  In 2006 she was promoted to Director of Store Presentation including responsibility for Foods and then in 2012 became Director of Store Environment and Product Presentation.   

Nayna has played a key role in the development of 3 major brands during the last 20 years.  She was part of the Management Team that set up the per una brand in 2001, prior to this Nayna was Sales and Marketing Director for the George brand in Asda stores, where she started 11 years earlier as part of the Launch Team for the first supermarket brand to sell fashion. Before joining George, she was at Next for four years as a Divisional Executive for the South of England. 

Callum Lumsden

Callum has been servicing a wide range of national and international clients with effective and creative design of retail environments in the high street, museums, galleries and visitor attractions, since graduating from the RCA over 20 years ago. His expertise includes branding, design strategy and interior architecture and his on-going passion in the retail sector is driven by his personal challenge to make each project a success both experientially as well as commercially.

Callum’s career has encompassed a wide variety of projects ranging from the design of the award winning shops at Tate Modern, working with Mary Portas on some of her recent TV shows and the creation of a destination store within the Warner Bros. Studio Tour, the Making of Harry Potter.

David Tod, BrandHub

David joined BrandHub™ as an intern market analyst in 2009 after completing a business management degree at Nottingham University. He has since been developing client relationships with some of the UK’s largest property companies as well as communicating and working with some of the most recognisable brands in Britain.

David has completed BrandHub™s with British Airways, Ocado, Range Rover, Brylcreem, Puma and Kopparberg to name a few and continues to build on BrandHub™’s position in the growing, pop up retail market.

David is also on the committee of YEP London (young entrepreneurs in property) which organises networking, training and social events for its 2000 members.

Gwenda Jones, SBID

Gwenda initially studied Architecture for 2 years, then a degree in Interior Design. Whilst still a student, she gained success in  National Student & Open  Interior Design competitions, including H.R. Johnsons Tilescape national winner for Corporate office design, ICI Colour Dimensions  colouring the 90's National open winner for Showroom design, & Inn Design winning wine bar design.
After graduating  with a B.A (hons) in 3 Dimensional Design  from the University of Central England in 1991, Gwenda  was granted an E.U Scholarship to study & work in Barcelona. On returning  to Birmingham she  gained a wealth of experience over 17 years, working on large commercial & high end residential projects.
In 2009 Gwenda Jones Interiors, based  in Lichfield, Staffordshire, was founded with the desire to further her passion for  design led innovative interiors, with successful projects ranging from large commercial  market leading retail store design, restaurant, office & residential projects.
Gwenda joined SBID due to her passion for advancing the education, professional practice & public profile of the qualified Interior Designer, and is the Midlands Regional Director for SBID.
 

Hannah Malein, Global Colour Research

Working as a colour consultant for Global Color Research since 2009, Hannah’s passion for colour and trends has helped her to work with clients such as Mëtsa Tissue, Homebase, Pintico and Schott. As part of the Global Color Research and Mix publications’ team Hannah is involved as one of the editors of the Materials section of Mix magazine, as well as helping clients understand the use of colour forecasting in the marketing process.

Hannah’s experience and dedication to the clients has seen her take an active part in product launches in Colombia, trend meetings for Comex in San Francisco and feature as a panel member for the MoOD trend book.

Hannah is a frequent speaker at events such as 100% Design, Decorex, Furnitex Australia, Interiors, Pulse and Surface Design Show

Jonathan Webb, Retail in Action

Jonathan is a professional shopper and retail expert,  he travels the world looking at retail from this perspective, constantly looking for efficiencies and innovations, and new and compelling ways to improve retail practices.
He has worked with many global brands including Disney Consumer products developing retail strategy, Colgate in the US identifying key account strategies for Mexico, Johnson & Johnson channel strategy in Italy, Coca Cola for global trends and retail futurology, Chanel global brand experience benchmarking, Volvo defining a role for dealerships of the future, Starbucks optimising the user experience, Samsung experience zone development, Unilever retail strategy for Walls ice cream.
 Jonathan has over 25 years commercial experience, the last 10 of which focused exclusively on Shopper at Retail in Action Ltd
When not snooping round shops he can be found flying light aeroplanes at 3,000 feet over the Essex countryside or otherwise being bossed about by the three women in his life…

Mark Hughes, BrandHub

Having worked in-house for the UK’s leading property company, Land Securities Plc in their commercialisation team with a focus on filming and events, Mark set-up BrandHub™ in 2009.

With a focus on providing innovative property solutions to a broad customer base on behalf of landlords ranging from shopping centres and retail parks to mixed use developments and city centre redevelopments, Mark has been involved in matching locations to briefs across the country. Utilising skills, suppliers and ideas gained from working in the event and film/TV location sector for 8 years, Mark is involved with bringing the commercial and creative aspects together to deliver a full-service option to brands, agencies and start-ups.

Melinda Ashton Turner

Melinda originally trained as an Interior Designer and has been working as an Interior Stylist and Art Director for the past two decades. During the course of Melinda’s career she has been Style Editor of Australian Vogue Living, Decoration Editor of Homes & Gardens UK, Style Director of Inside Out magazine and as a freelancer worked for Elle Decoration and Living Etc. She has been a weekly columnist for both The Sunday Times and The Guardian Weekend. Melinda has worked on numerous advertising campaigns along with holding talks for furniture companies such as Muji as well as industry trade shows.  She also has been a guest tutor and as part of larger scale work designed exhibition stands at Decorex and 100% Design as well as consulted for companies. She has won a Homes &  Garden design award and in 2010 was nominated for Crown Stylist of the decade.

Naomi Cleaver

While Naomi Cleaver is perhaps best known as a television presenter of prime time property design classics, such as Channel 4’s “Grand Designs: Trade Secrets”, she is primarily an interior architect and designer who designs interiors, furniture and products distinguished by quirky elegance, practical efficiency and cost effectiveness.
Fascinated by the potential for design to enhance well-being and the creative possibilities of environmentally sustainable design Naomi has most recently worked with student accommodation providers, IQ, establishing a newly nurturing design approach for this burgeoning sector and, on her own land in Devon, is developing a reinterpretation of “green architecture”, in association with the Devon Wildlife Trust to “deliberately and harmoniously accommodate species other than humans” in the face of the UK’s housing crisis.

Naomi also writes and teaches courses on the subject of design and is the author of the best-selling “The Joy of Home” (Conran Octopus). Most recently Naomi was honoured to have judged the RIBA Stirling Prize 2012.

Nic Cumisky, Google

'Nicholas is a digital marketing veteran with over 15 years experience in digital marketing including over 5 years in mobile. Nicholas joined AdMob in 2007 (subsequently acquired by Google in 2010) and is responsible for leading businesses into mobile advertising using both branding and performance solutions.

Technology has featured throughout Nicholas's career, initially at creative advertising agencies launching the first ever laptop campaigns (for Compaq) and more recently working on CRM solutions for ASDA whilst with Publicis.

Nicholas currently works with multiple retail and FMCG clients to deliver performance and brand marketing activity on mobile, enabling mainstream brands to understand the mobile space, employ ROI focused campaigns and deliver measurable results.

Clients include Unilever, DFS, Amazon, Ebay, Nokia, Yahoo, Heineken and Volkswagen.

Outside of work Nicholas has his hands full with a young family and a garden full of triffids’.

Nina Campbell

Nina Campbell is one of the world’s most respected and influential interior designers. Her list of clients and design expertise is unparalleled. Renowned for her contagious wit and brilliant sense of style, her designs appeal to both young and old and sit well in both contemporary and traditional interiors. Nina has her own interior design offices and studio where she creates a successful fabric and wallpaper collection internationally distributed by Osborne & Little. Her famous retail shop for home accessories and gifts is at 9, Walton Street in London’s Knightsbridge, and has remained a firm favourite for the last 30 years.

The interior design side of the business continues to flourish with notable projects, both commercial and residential, throughout the world, working with a large and trusted team of craftsmen in all the decorative fields. Projects have included a large residence on mainland China, a private house for a member of the Jordanian royal family in Amman, a town house in New York and a country house hotel overlooking Cheltenham race course.
 

Robert Doak, UKT&I

Through his role as Senior International Trade Adviser with the British Government’s UKTI, Rob has a robust track record of supporting export trade and the internationalisation of many of the UK’s most competitive businesses – both SME’s but additionally some of UK’s larger multi-nationals.

Prior to joining UKTI Robert worked for a leading multi-national consultancy leading industrial assignments across much of the EU, Middle East and Caspian Region of former Russia.   Here he supported EU succession programmes and similar economic development, building their SME capacity and associated supply chains for their key sectors.

In early and mid career Robert has some twenty plus years in product development, leading major international product ventures in the construction sector. Parallel to this he conducted a stint as a Non Executive Director at FIRA.

In summary Rob has nearly forty years of hands-on management experience of supporting international business in some thirty plus country-markets worldwide. In this respect has an extremely full understanding of managing both opportunity and risks for businesses when addressing their internationalisation.

Ryan Ross, Stylus

Ryan brings extensive experience in product development and a strong understanding of the link between the consumer and the commercial. He worked within the consumer retail sector for 17 years, most recently at Pottery Barn and Harrods. He started his career at Gap, where he was part of the product team for the Old Navy division. In 2000, Ryan moved to Pottery Barn as a retail buyer. While at Pottery Barn, he held various positions including Divisional Merchandising Manager of Home Accessories, Vice President of Pottery Barn.com and Vice President of Pottery Barn Bed and Bath Division.
Most recently, he was Director of Harrods Direct in London, responsible for all aspects of the online and catalogue businesses. While Ryan has experience across all retail channels, his knowledge of developing a significant online presence is instrumental in offering the content, creative and user experience that will fuel the growth of Stylus.

Sarah Shepard, Stylus

Sarah was previously a senior member of the WGSN Interiors team with a focus on colour, trend and pattern analysis. She is a BA graduate in Printed Textiles from the Glasgow School of Art and has 20 years’ specialist experience in the industry. Starting her career designing scarf and swimwear textiles, Sarah then moved to Debenhams where she worked within the homeware department developing product, colour and trend packages. After a year exploring China and India, Sarah returned to London to work for an international home and fashion design consultancy with retail and manufacturing clients in the UK, US, Japan and South-East Asia.

Sian Astley

Property expert, interior designer and tv presenter. Writer of the Moregeous property / interiors blog.

Sian will talk about her career in interiors, which has developed through practical knowledge rather than the usual college route, including use of social media to develop an on-line presence & 'brand'. She will also focus on how that led to presenting Half Built House for Channel 5, her experience on the show, with explanations of how & why the different schemes were picked for the different houses.  A real behind the scenes talk on how property TV works!

Sue Timney BIID

Sue Timney is an influential interior designer that has worked in Britain, Europe and Japan for over 30 years creating interior projects that celebrate her own brand of exotic classicism. She is the President of the British Institute of Interior Design and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Art.

She currently runs the successful company Sue Timney Ltd which was set up in 2002. In 2009 Sue was commissioned by The Rug Company in London to design carpets, and was made a trustee of The Laura Ashley Foundation. In 2010 Sue was appointed a Director of The British Institute of Interior Design (BIID) and a retrospective of Sue's work was shown at The Fashion and Textile Museum in London. The House of Fraser in 2011 launched the Timney brand for Home and Fashion and her work was exhibited in the Post Modernism Exhibition (Style & Subversion 1970-1990’s) at the Victoria & Albert Museum. In 2012 Sue was commissioned by the V&A and Random House to design the covers of British Vintage Classics - With 6 other leading British Designers. Her work was also featured in the Victoria & Albert Museums’ exhibition ‘British Design 1948-2012’ Innovation in the Modern Age’. Sue was elected President of the British Institute of Interior Design.

Will Taylor

After graduating from Cardiff University with a degree in Journalism, Will Taylor worked at the BBC on Blue Peter before channeling his creativity and love for colour and interiors into his blog, Bright.Bazaar. The site has gone on to receive critical acclaim across the world, being named as the number one interiors blog by multiple media outlets in both the UK and America. As the site's fourth birthday approaches it receives in excess of 450,000 readers a month and has become the most followed and influential Pinterest account in the UK with over 2.8 million followers. In addition to blogging daily on Bright.Bazaar, Will authors regular blog columns for retail brands like Laura Ashley, as well as writing freelance for The Simple Things, the Guardian and others. He is also Shopping Editor for quarterly lifestyle magazine, Sweet Paul. Will’s motto? Beige is boring!

Ros Anderson and Jill Macnair

Ros Anderson and Jill Macnair have been chatting about wallpaper and colour combinations since they sat opposite each other at Kitchens, Bedrooms & Bathrooms magazine. Since then Ros has written on interiors and design with credits including The Guardian, The Independent, Ideal Home and Grand Designs, while Jill has worked at and contributed to titles including Elle Decoration, The Guardian, The Independent and The Sunday Times.
They started My Friend's House three years ago as a place to discuss design they love and how people really live. The blog has been listed as one of the top UK interiors blogs by The Telegraph Stella, Red, BBC Homes & Antiques and The Independent. My Friends House now also offers blogging consultancy and services.

Warren Knight, Gloople.

Warren is the founder and CEO of Gloople, the UK 1st "Social Sharing" SaaS eCommerce platform, recently getting £150,000 Seed investment, valuing the business at £1M in less than 2 years. 

With over 20 years' experience in selling products and services globally, Warren is an international keynote speaker, trainer, author and consultant specialising in B2B Social Media and a Social Commerce evangelist. Helping SME's use Social Media and Digital Commerce to achieve a multi-channel experience to build their brand, drive traffic and better understand their customers

Katie Treggiden

Katie Treggiden is obsessed with design and loves nothing more than writing about her favourite subject. Why? Because “good design makes people’s lives better.” Her blog, confessions of a design geek, champions such design and new and independent designers. Within five months of launch, it was awarded Best Interior Design Blog in Great Britain by mydeco. Judge Kelly Hoppen said, “This is a wonderful example of how blogging should be, she is clearly passionate about her subject and her writing conveys this enthusiasm to the reader.” and Brad Ford said, “…beautifully designed, consistent, thoughtful and a very distinct point of view.” Katie also writes for magazines such as LivingEtc, Ideal Home, WRAP Magazine and Midcentury Modern, and for blogs such as Design Milk, London Design Guide and We Heart.