Episodes
This week, Claire sits down with Ekaterina Solomeina, co-founder of Future London Academy. Ekaterina shares her life in design from Russia to London, from agency to in-house. She shares her discovery of design as a career through early experiences of coding and website design, and her experiences of working with two original design powerhouses - Michael Wolff and Donatella Versace. How both have influenced the way she works and thinks. Links: Red Setter dba Future London Academy
Published 05/02/24
Published 05/02/24
This week on Claire sits down with Alex Moulton, chief creative officer at Trollbäck+Company in NYC. Alex shares his life in design, from filmmaking and sonic branding, to full brand experience. Links: Red Setter dba Trollbäck+Company
Published 04/25/24
This week Claire sits down with Alex Center, founder of design agency CENTER. Alex shares his life in design, from a dream internship working on the New York Knicks, to his time at the Coca-Cola Company building iconic drinks brands like vitaminwater and POWERAID, to the founding of CENTER in 2017. Links: Red Setter dba Center
Published 04/18/24
This week Claire chats with Joshua Breidenbach, from Vietnam’s Rice. Joshua shares his life in design, from early family influences, to the messages of punk music, and a pivotal project with Coca-Cola that marked the official founding of Rice. Links: Red Setter dba Rice
Published 04/11/24
This week on ‘My Life in Design’ Claire catches up with Joy Nazzari of DNCO to discuss her life in design, and her unusual route into the industry from a start in tech investment banking.    Joy shares stories from her childhood, including an Easter Egg hunt at Walter Landor’s home (the founder of the legendary agency Landor). She talks about launching and growing DNCO and some of the major decisions that she’s had to make along the way, and on the challenge and privilege of managing...
Published 04/04/24
This week Claire chats with Hamish Campbell, VP executive creative director of Pearlfisher NYC. Hamish recounts his life in design and how a love for art evolved into a career in graphic design, blending the precision of engineering with the creativity of visual art. Links: Red Setter dba Pearlfisher
Published 03/28/24
This week Claire chats with Kerry and Shaun, co-founders of B&B Studio, about their journeys into design and the founding of their award-winning studio. They share insights into their first client, Bear, which went on to win the DBA Grand Prix at the Design Effectiveness Awards. Links: Red Setter dba B&B Studio
Published 03/21/24
This week Claire meets up with Emily Rickard, CEO of BUCK.  Emily talks about her career journey, from filmmaking aspirations to fashion journalism and TV production in Australia, to leading a global creative powerhouse that is BUCK. Links: Red Setter dba BUCK
Published 03/14/24
In the first episode of the new series, Claire meets up with design legend Mary Lewis, creative director of Lewis Moberly. Mary talks about her early years living on a farm and her fascination with branded goods. Going to art college and then moving down to art school in Camberwell, London. And her time as a graphic design teacher before discovering the ad industry and her love of packaging, then founding Lewis Moberly with her husband Robert. Links: Red Setter dba Lewis Moberly
Published 03/07/24
In the final episode of the series episode, Claire meets up with digital artist Dines, co-founder and chief creative officer of Studio BLUP. He shares his journey from discovering his passion for design at a young age to establishing a successful creative company. Dines discusses the challenges he’s faced, the importance of resilience, and the role of his supportive friend and business partner, Alex. He also talks about his decision to buy back his company and rebrand it with a focus on...
Published 12/14/23
This week Claire meets up with Marina Willer, partner at Pentagram. Marina talks about growing up in a creative house in Brazil and being influenced by the politics and injustice there at the time. She talks about moving to the UK to study at the Royal College of Art, working at Wolff Olins, and becoming a partner at Pentagram. Links: Red Setter dba Marina Willer Podcast Editing by Stick and Splice
Published 12/07/23
This week Claire meets up with Cat How, Founder & ECD of branding agency How & How. Cat talks about her route into design through journalism, ecommerce, and shared office spaces. She discusses her experience at Central St Martins studying for her Masters, and starting How & How during lockdown. Links: Red Setter dba How & How Podcast Editing by Stick and Splice
Published 11/30/23
This week Claire meets up with Rejane Dal Bello. Rejane talks about how she thought she’d be a dentist as a child but found a love of art on an exchange year in the US. She talks about her time at NYC’s School of Visual Arts being taught by Milton Glaser, moving to the Netherlands and working at Studio Dumbar, setting up her own studio, and why you should follow your gut. Links: Red Setter dba Studio Rejane Dal Bello Podcast Editing by Stick and Splice
Published 11/23/23
This week Claire meets up with a personal design hero of hers – Stefan Sagmeister. Stefan talks about his experiences of working with Lou Reed and The Rolling Stones, On the importance of finding something in your life that you’re good at, and working on it to be better, on creative sabbaticals (Stefan has one every 7 years) and his time working with Jessica Walsh. Links: Red Setter dba STEFAN SAGMEISTER SAGMEISTER & WALSH Podcast Editing by Stick and Splice
Published 11/16/23
This week Claire meets up with Alan Dye and Nick Finney, founders of NB Studio. They talk about their ‘apprenticeship’ at Pentagram and how they founded NB Studio in the pub next door! Some great tips for young designers too. Links: Red Setter dba NB Studio Podcast Editing by Stick and Splice
Published 11/09/23
This week Claire meets up with Sean Thomas, Executive Creative Director of JKR. Sean talks about how art was his sanctuary at school, his first roles in agencies Pearlfisher and The Core, through freelance and to JKR.  Links: Red Setter dba JKR Podcast Editing by Stick and Splice
Published 11/02/23
This week Claire meets up with Robert Brunner, the product and brand designer who set up Apple’s first industrial design department, designed the first PowerBook, and went on to design the product and brand of Beats with Dr Dre and Jimmy Iovine. Robert discusses how he became an engineer after his father, how he moved on to become a product designer, and his ground-breaking work on Apple’s laptops and handheld computing. Links: Red Setter dba Podcast Editing by Stick and Splice
Published 10/26/23
This week Claire meets up with Rowena Curlewis and Margaret Nolan of the drinks specialist agency - Denomination. Row & Margaret talk about early beginnings at Lewis Moberly, on the importance of getting the culture right when you set up a business partnership, setting up studios around the world, and some great tips for junior designers. Links: Red Setter Denomination dba Podcast Editing by Stick and Splice
Published 10/19/23
We kick off the fourth series of My Life in Design with Jim Sutherland. Jim founded the multi-award winning Studio Sutherl&, and is visiting professor at Norwich University of the Arts. Jim talks about how he got started in design, overcoming his shyness to make an impression and present work, and why you don’t need to wear a suit as a junior designer! Links: Red Setter Studio Sutherl& dba Podcast Editing by Stick and Splice
Published 10/12/23
This week, in the final episode of series 3, Claire meets up with Brian Collins, designer, creative director, educator, and co-founder of design firm COLLINS - named by Forbes as one of the companies transforming the future of brand building. Brian talks about his discovery of design and making the bold statement at the age of 17 that he wanted to run his own design agency. Brian also shares his design school experience (with nights at Studio 54!), to starting out on the COLLINS journey. He...
Published 08/03/23
This week, Claire speaks to Caspar Lam and YuJune Park, Founders of the award-winning Synoptic Office and Professors in Communication Design at the Parsons School of Design, NY. Caspar and YuJune talk about their discovery of design and their shared love of visualising ideas. They discuss how design is constantly evolving and the continued role for human input to ask the right questions. Links: Red Setter Synoptic Office dba Podcast Editing by Stick and Splice
Published 07/27/23
This week Claire meets up with David Johnston, founder of Accept & Proceed, exploring his design journey, from discovering graphic design and his art school experience, to entering the design industry at a time in the nineties when graphic design felt ‘punk, exciting and everything is possible.’ David talks about setting up Accept & Proceed and working with clients like Nike, Google, Rapha and NASA, using design as a force for good. He also shares valuable tips to young designers...
Published 07/20/23
This week Claire meets up with the rather fantastic Paula Scher. Paula shares her design journey from discovering graphic design, her art school experience, and landing her first job. She discusses her early career as art director in the 1970s and early 80s, working for CBS records, and becoming a partner of Pentagram NYC in 1991. She discusses her thoughts on what branding is and can a graphic designer really design a brand, and the importance of young designers getting themselves noticed....
Published 07/13/23
This week Claire met up with visual artist Craig Black. Craig shares his rise from footballer to typographer to visual artist and performing his ‘Acrylic Fusion’ technique in front of some of the world’s greatest footballers at the FIFA World Cup in 2022. Links: Red Setter Craig Black dba Podcast Editing by Stick and Splice
Published 07/06/23