Member Article

A hotbed for new design talent: Kala Preston talks to bdaily about Design Event

Next month Design Event returns to the region for its seventh consecutive year, and acting director Kala Preston and her team can’t wait for the exhibition to open.

“We really want to promote the North East as a hotbed for new design talent,” she stresses. “It’s just fantastic to be around so much creativity and to see what people can produce.”

Kala has been part of Design Event for the past five years, four of which were spent as the company’s marketing manager. This year she was asked to cover the role of director while company director Karen Stone was on maternity leave, giving her the overarching role of ensuring everything for Design Event runs smoothly.

“It’s pretty hectic, but time has passed quickly,” says Kala. “However, I’ve previously worked with lots of culture and design based clients, which gave me a good grounding for project managing events like this.”

This year’s exhibition centres around the theme of “happiness”, and will see over 20 different exhibitions, talks and events taking place across the North East.

One of the highlights is the Design Event MART, something that Kala seems to be particularly looking forward to.

“The MART is an exhibition which gives 8 new designers the chance to sell their products,” she explains. “They were given the brief to create something using methods they’ve never used before, so they have the opportunity to be very innovative.

“Last years we took eight designers from the North East to 100% Design at the London Design Festival, and they had a fantastic reception, and between them have won contracts, commissions and sales of over £50,000.”

While Design Event will not be taking individuals to London this year, the number of orders received for their products is indicative of the high calibre of artists who Design Event choose for the festival.

Indeed, the number of visitors to last year’s exhibition – over 67,000 – illustrates the recognition Design Event has received, both in the region and nationally. Kala attributes the success of the event to the type of exhibits shown.

“People often find design more accessible than high art, which is one of the reasons they flock to see the displays.

“At last years event there were installations dotted around the city, and seeing something unusual can change your day and lift your mood – and more often than not can encourage you to go on and find out more about it.”

It is little over two weeks until the Design Event opens, and until then Kala and her team will be hard at work on the final preparations before the exhibits are finally unveiled to the public.

“It’s been pretty hectic, and the time is passing by quickly, but we’re all just very excited to finally seeing people viewing the exhibition.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .