A number of the world’s top design experts and IT industry leaders from leading companies such as Pinterest and Kickstarter will be speaking at Herald Design Forum on Nov. 8. In its sixth year, Herald Design Forum 2016 will focus on how fusing technology and business with innovative design led to the success of their businesses.

Kicking off the forum this year is Yancey Strickler, co-founder and CEO of the world’s largest crowdfunding service Kickstarter, a platform which allows individuals and businesses to pitch their projects to site users and raise funds through donations. In his lecture “Realizing dreams through the idea factory,” the New York-based entrepreneur will speak about how ingenious ideas become reality through his service. Prior to founding Kickstarter, where he also served as Head of Community and Head of Communications, Strickler was a music journalist for various publications.

Bob Baxley, former head of product design at social media service Pinterest, will be speaking on how e-commerce can soar through user-friendly design. Pinterest is a mobile and web platform on which users share content -- primarily photos -- and “pin” posts uploaded by others that grab their interest. One of its key attractions is its intuitive layout, which allows users to view several images at once, as if they were laid out on a scrollable, mobile bulletin board.

A number of fashion and industrial designers will also take to the stage at Herald Design Forum 2016. 

Alberto Alessi, CEO of Italian kitchen and household goods brand Alessi, known for creating artful products such as wine openers in the shape of the human face, will be speaking on how to develop design with charm and novelty.
Sejima Kazuyo, architect and co-founder of architecture firm SANAA, will speak about how nature inspires her sleek, modernist pieces in a lecture titled “Finding solutions to architectural design in nature and humanity.” Sejima, apart from the late Zaha Hadid, is the only other female recipient of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, dubbed the Nobel Prize of architecture.

Celebrity designer Choi Eu-don, whose collection at the 2014 London Fashion Week was selected as one of the “Top 10 to Watch” by the British newspaper the Guardian, will deliver a lecture titled “Passion beyond fashion: Flirting with art.”

English industrial designer Ross Lovegrove, renowned for his design of the Sony Walkman cassette player, will talk about how design ideas can be inspired from everyday life.

Henrik Fisker, the founder and CEO of Fisker Inc. who has previously worked for luxury car companies like Aston Martin and BMW, will discuss how design is moving the luxury automobile market. With his experience creating the world’s first luxury electric car, Fisker will provide insight into how car design is moving in tandem with developments in automotive technology.

Also addressing design innovation will be Dick Powell, co-founder and chairman of internationally renowned design and innovation company Seymourpowell, which has over the years brought fresh thinking to everyday objects like kitchen bins, razors, burglar alarms and even the economy seats on airliners.

The forum will take place at the Grand Hyatt Seoul’s Grand Ballroom on Nov. 8.

By Rumy Doo (doo@heraldcorp.com)