2021 AWARDS OPEN NOW! ENTER HERE
BIID PRESIDENT
Lester Bennett is an independent design consultant with 40 years of design experience. His career has included founding his own practice, working as a design director for a leading residential developer and as a founding partner of Folio Design LLP. Lester specialises in residential interior architecture and design, whilst also having a wide range of experience in commercial and retail design, industrial, exhibition and product design, with a client list including Mobil, Alliance and Leicester, Celador Productions, Morgan du toi, Elstree Studios, Taylor Walker Breweries and Handles and Fittings Ltd (HAF), with products still in production after nearly 30 years.
Prior to setting up Folio Design LLP, Lester was Design Director at Westcity Wates/Westcity Developers, delivering prestigious and iconic London residential schemes such as West End Quay, The Phillimores (now Academy Gardens), Pavilion Apartments and Phillimore Square (now Thornwood Gardens). His concept work and his understanding of high end, and often cutting-edge, residential design earned these schemes national and international awards.
In addition to his work in contemporary design, Lester has studied, and lectured on, the history of the English House and is well versed in period interiors, informing his work on many historic and listed buildings.
Lester also has a thorough understanding of cabinet making and site construction techniques, materials and processes, and is a passionate flag waver for the art of hand drawing.
Other than the many facetted aspects of art and design, his passions are his family, music (he is an accomplished jazz drummer) and the countryside.
Lester is the current President of the British Institute of Interior Design (BIID). He previously served on the BIID Professional Practice Committee as Chair, a term on the Membership Committee and for several years as assessor and student mentor. His key objectives as President are to work closely with the BIID Council, committees, and other groups within the design community, nationally and internationally and to continue to raise the profile of the BIID, the only professional institute for interior designers.
Founding Partner, Professor
S+ ARCHITECTURE
Murat Soygenis FAIA, a founding partner at S+ ARCHITECTURE, is an architect and a professor practicing in Istanbul. He received his architectural education in Istanbul and at University at Buffalo. He has served as the Dean of School of Architecture (YTU) and received awards for his contributions to profession. Soygenis has given numerous lectures in various countries, received architectural firm awards including from the RIBA Journal among many, participated in exhibitions and served as a jury member in many international architectural prizes and competitions. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects (FAIA), member of the Chamber of Architects in Istanbul (UIA), and the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).
Founder, Delasign
Oscar is an award winning multidisciplinary designer & technologist and founder of Delasign. His work is sold in over 30 countries by the Museum of Modern Art and can be found in over 200 Apple stores around the world. He has worked on high-profile projects such as the Apple Watch Nike+ and has been interviewed by El Mundo. He has presented as one of Spain’s emerging designers at ICFF Talks 2017 and has done work for over 20 Fortune 500 companies including Nike, MoMA and Samsung. He has served as a judge for organizations such as the One Club for Creativity, the A Design Award and the Webbys. His work has reached media outlets that include The New York Times, The Verge and The Washington Post.
Oscar’s work has won awards, nominations and shortlists from recognized institutions including Cannes International Festival for Creativity, Industrial Designers Society of America, The CLIOs, The One Show, Webby, The Creative Review and Core77.
Oscar, born in Basel, Switzerland, is Spanish and was raised in The Netherlands. He holds a Masters of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College London and an MFA in Products of Design from the School of Visual Arts.
Rebecca Kong is the co-founder of ArtwareEditions.com, the worldwide e-commerce hub founded in 2006 for the best artist-designed functional objects and furniture. Previously, she was the Director at contemporary art galleries Peter Freeman, Inc. (NYC), Donald Young Gallery (Chicago) and Alan Koppel Gallery (Chicago). She holds and MFA in Art History and Philosophy from University of Chicago and a BFA from Colgate University.
Founder & CEO, Indesign Media Asia Pacific
The Good Design Mark holder, Aidin Ardjomandi, is an awards winning Iranian designer. He has received Master of Industrial Design from IA University of Tehran in the specialization of aesthetics. In 2015 he won A’DESIGN Award by inventing a new brand musical instrument, the Celloridoo, which was a hybrid one by combination of Cello and the didgeridoo. He has also won several other national and international awards.
Aidin is the official member of World Design Consortium, International Design Club, International Council of Creative Industries Alliance of International Business Associations and the International Association of Designers.
He has been part of Jury members and executive committee of several design awards and competitions all over the world such as A’DESIGN Award of Italy, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 Design Excellence Award 2018, Archstorming Design Competition of USA 2018, Asia Design Prize of South Korea 2019, LIT Award 2019, Design that Educates Award of Germany 2019 ,2020 , Envent Challeng of India 2019, Insutrart Awards of Ukraine 2020, ADA of Azerbaijan 2020 and Ukrainian Design awards: THE VERY BEST OF 2020. He is the Marketing Advisor of Design that Educates awards and the International Relations Manager of Azerbaijan Design Awards and the Marketing and Events Manager of Istituto de Moda Burgo in Qatar.
Designer and Engineer at MIT & IDSA Boston Vice Chair
Sheng-Hung Lee is a designer, maker and educator inspired by multiple domains of knowledge and perspectives, thriving on creating new value for clients in multi-disciplinary teams. Trained as an industrial designer and electrical engineer, Lee works for prestigious design consultancies. His approach to problem solving is influenced by his passion for how design and technology are integrated into—and impact—society.
Lee worked with clients including Bank of China, EF (English First) and Rubbermaid to redesign their services and user experiences. He also worked as a researcher at the National Science Council in Taiwan and is a member of the Taiwan Society of Technology and Sociology, IDSA, Phi Tau Phi Scholastic Honor Society and China Technical Consultants, Inc.
Lee holds a double bachelor’s degree with honors in industrial design and electrical engineering from National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan. His work, including the latest, TetraPOT—a natural, green and sustainable sea defense system—won IDA Gold in Design for Society; IDSA International Design Excellence Award 2016 Gold in Environments; European Product Design Award 2017 Gold in Design for Society/Design for Sustainability; Braun Prize; Core77 Design Award; Red Dot Award (Best of the Best); iF Design Award Gold, Spark Design Award and James Dyson Award.
The adjunct associate professor of product at Fudan University Shanghai Institute of Visual Art is also a student in computer science, taking regular online courses and creating apps.
Founder and CEO, Mole in a Minute & Streative Branding
Shari Swan is a third time entrepreneur, founder and investor and committed advocate of female founders and the start-up eco system. She is a global expert on consumer insights, brand strategy, innovation and design and has a passion for transforming data into actionable and highly relevant, creative business opportunities for corporations with the support of co-creation and expert online communities.
Shari is a former global marketing executive of Mexx International and Reebok International. At Mexx, she created and re-launched the brand communication in 40 countries. At Reebok, she played a fully integrated role, strategizing in product design, marketing, sales, research and strategic brand management in Europe and North America. As a past faculty member of the University of Amsterdam’s Fashion Institute, she received the single largest research grant to create a proposal for a branding think tank that united fashion students and companies worldwide.
Swan founded Streative Branding in 2003, an Amsterdam based, award winning global insight and design agency and later transformed the business into a global, online, agile platform that relaunched as Mole in Minute in 2016. Mole in a Minute is an automated collaboration platform that connects corporations to globally vetted and curated maverick freelancers, industry experts and creative talent (Moles, Mavens Makers) for research, strategy and design projects.
Shari is also an acknowledged global speaker on insight, innovation, co-creation and consumer behavior and it’s impact on the future of business and society. Aside from whispering into the ears of global senior executives at UEFA, Liberty Global, Royal Bank of Canada, News UK, O2, LCBO, Estee Lauder and others, Shari and her partner own and operate an award winning, boutique manor house in France; Manoir du Moulin.
Interior Designer
Susan Deliss is one of “House & Garden” magazine’s Top 100 residential decorators and is one of Country Life magazine’s Top 100 for making the perfect country house.
The designer and her products have been featured in House and Garden, World of Interiors, Country Life, Homes and Gardens, Homes and Antiques, The English Home, the London Evening Standard, the Financial Times – ‘How to Spend it’, the Sunday Times – ‘Style’, and in the USA, House Beautiful and Verandah, Architectural Digest and other leading publications.
She designs her own range of fabrics and sells ikats, silk embroideries, kilims, velvets and linens, antique, vintage and new. One-off furniture, both antique and made to order and upholstered in Susan Deliss’s fabrics are complemented by limited edition cushions and hand-made and lined silk lampshades, decorative objects and fine art. All decorative, beautifully made, useful and highly individual, she supplies her products to well-known decorators, hotels and other companies, as well as private clients in the UK, the USA, Europe and Australia.
For interior design projects, Susan’s approach and style were best summed up by one of her clients:
“Susan’s approach is to listen to the client and listen to the house and then bring the space alive using a sophisticated and nuanced combination of colour, pattern and design. Her approach is to avoid design clichés, and trends, but to make each home feel unique to its owner; to imbibe the house with a feeling of history and personality – one that doesn’t shout but whispers. With her mix of antique and new textiles, traditional and irreverent use of wallpapers and paints, and globally-sourced furniture and objects – rarely sourced from the usual channels, but from her extensive travels – Susan helps her clients see a house’s potential in a new way without them having to let go of their own story.”
The Good Design Mark holder, Aidin Ardjomandi, is an awards winning Iranian designer. He has received Master of Industrial Design from IA University of Tehran in the specialization of aesthetics. In 2015 he won A’DESIGN Award by inventing a new brand musical instrument, the Celloridoo, which was a hybrid one by combination of Cello and the didgeridoo. He has also won several other national and international awards.
Aidin is the official member of World Design Consortium, International Design Club, International Council of Creative Industries Alliance of International Business Associations and the International Association of Designers.
He has been part of Jury members and executive committee of several design awards and competitions all over the world such as A’DESIGN Award of Italy, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 Design Excellence Award 2018, Archstorming Design Competition of USA 2018, Asia Design Prize of South Korea 2019, LIT Award 2019, Design that Educates Award of Germany 2019 ,2020 , Envent Challeng of India 2019, Insutrart Awards of Ukraine 2020, ADA of Azerbaijan 2020 and Ukrainian Design awards: THE VERY BEST OF 2020. He is the Marketing Advisor of Design that Educates awards and the International Relations Manager of Azerbaijan Design Awards and the Marketing and Events Manager of Istituto de Moda Burgo in Qatar.