The Rt. Hon. Lord Mandelson, recently appointed Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (BERR) [profile on BERR site] has been welcomed by much of the UK design establishment.
Mandelson's London Design Festival opening speech was cited in Design Week's review of 2008 (Design Week's review of 2008, Design Week, 18 December) as an indicator of a possible role for design in creating a knowledge economy. Well, don't get your hopes up about the Secretary of State for Business's sympathy for or understanding of design. In his major speech on the 'new industrial activism' at the RSA in December Mandelson didn't once refer to design.
When asked about the role he envisaged for design and the creative industries the best he could do was refer to the competitive advantage they conferred. Ideas as ambitious as design creating a 'knowledge economy', whether or not they make sense, were absent. Mandelson's industrial strategy is banal, bordering on the cynical, and shows no understanding of the potential of design. However, next time he speaks, I hope there will be more representatives of the UK design industry present to put a progressive case in response.
Published as a letter entitled Mandy isn't the standard bearer for design we deserve in Design Week, 15 January 2009 [paid sub may be required]
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