2015
- Appointed as External Examiner, Royal College of Art, Design Products
- Peer Reviewer for International Making Futures Conference 2015
- Outputs of Community21 'Young Digital Citizenship' presented to Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg.
- Peer reviewer for Research Through Design Conference
- Workshop Chair - 'Multiple Voices in Design' / Research Through Design Conference
- Invited participant, Arts and Humanities Research Council 'Protopubllcs' / Social Design workshop, Lancaster UK.
2014
- Judge for The Countryside Awards for the Campaign for the Protection of Rural England assessing projects, initiatives and developments which demonstrate innovative design, contributions to community, education and use of materials and renewable energy.
- Peer reviewer Leverhulme Trust
2013
- Victoria & Albert Museum, London (January 2013) 'Design Culture Salon'; invited as speaker / participant in public debate around the role of making within contemporary culture.
- Received press coverage in over 50 media releases worldwide for 'Breast Milk Booties' campaign for International, Breast Milk Donor-ship Day, with NHS Milk Bank and Milk Bank UK. Features in Mail Online, BBC TV, BBC Radio, blog and website feature coverage including Ireland, USA, Israel, Pakistan, Germany, India.
- Invited to present Community21 to West Sussex Climate Change Board.
- Invited speaker to Brighton Eco-technology show.
- Featured in 'Engage by Design' series of videos relating to sustainable design.
- Peer reviewer for Lawrence King Publishing
- Peer reviewer for Thames & Hudson Publishing
"Nick Gant sees himself as a material activist. His mission is to develop an idea as making as a way of constructing narratives. How you interact with materials, what you turn them into, the networks of others you engage in, the direction you take value in through objects all add up to an ideological process. Nick spoke passionately about the need to re-activate an enquiring approach to materiality. Of course, anyone who has read Bernard Leach’s writing may find a measure of similarity. However, arguably, Leach expressed his material politics in a semi-mystical way by talking of ‘returning to the clay’ as a return to the self. Nick’s drive is more progressive, I think. He is interested in making as a way of extending knowledge and understanding, of exploring the realms of the possible." (Guy Julier - Professor of Design and Culture, V&A Museum writing about the Design Salon series).
2012
- Awarded £98,000 Grant from Nominet 'Digital Edge' programme for Community21 to research use of accessible technology to empower young people as co-designers of their neighbourhoods under 'localism' legislation - in collaboration with Action in Rural Sussex.
- Feature articles for On Our Doorsteps in ICON Magazine and websites Core 77, Hidden Art and Scuola Italiana Design and coverage in Design Week.
- Devised and chaired the sustainable design industry seminar debate sessions for the UK's largest design show 100% Design at the London Design Festival between leading design industry representatives and academics.
- Invited keynote speaker at The Sussex Resilience and Emergency Planning Conference.
- Featured in 'Puma Sustainable Design Collective' video documentary for PUMA, broadcast internationally to apparel designers of leading brands.
- Awarded major sponsorship by Media Ten for 'On Our Doorsteps' project as a central feature exhibition at Earls Court for 100% Design as part of the London Design Festival.
- Awarded fully funded Arts and Humanities Research Council, Collaborative Doctoral Award in collaboration with Action in Rural Sussex, for project 'Envisioning The Future Village'.
- Article created by global trend forecasting company WGSN about Gant and Dean's 'Sole Searching' waste materials project, with 78,000 corporate subscribers globally from worlds leading consumer brands.
- Invited to PUMA HQ to present 'Meaning Making' lecture and data gathering exhibition to leading sportswear, lifestyle and apparel designers as part of the PUMA Sustainable Design Collective, hosted by Jonathan Chapman.
- Demonstrated Community21 neighbourhood planning platform for sustainable communities to Under Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Bob Neill and Chair of the National Association of Local Councils at the National Association of Local Councils Conference 2012.
- Guest juror for PUMA Sustainable Design Challenge 2012.
- Invited guest speaker and expert panelist, as founder of Community21, at the Waterwise Conference theme of which was 'Engaging Water Users'. Speakers included Minister for Water Richard Benyon and Sir John Beddington, Chief Scientific Advisor to the Government and fellow panelists included Ian Barker, Head of Water, Land and Biodiversity at the Environment Agency and Donna McKitterick, Head of Strategy at Global Action Plan.
- Awarded Local Energy Assessment Funding via Department of Energy and Climate Change for community energy project and use of Community21 to deliver web portal and public communications.
- Undertook a Department of Energy and Climate Change funded project to 'visualise' and communicate a community energy production project for Lewes Town, OVESCO project.
- Invited speaker at the Brighton Eco-Technology Fair.
- Invited to Gulbenkian Foundation and British Council 'Foresight' workshop as an expert participant, presenting experiences of 'Future Village' and 'Den Building' to members of the Transatlantic 2020 Network and The Clore Social Fellows 2012.
"Gant and Dean present an impressive train of thought that is a positive contribution to the future of sustainability" (Start-up Fashion).
"On Our Doorsteps stand, was a perceptive installation by the University of Brighton showcasing projects by designers working as local activitists, either by making new products from materials scavenged off nearby streets or creating schemes to galvanise communities" (Rosy Greenlees, Executive Director of The Crafts Council writing in The Huffington Post).
2011
- Community 21 - presented at Broadband summit organised and chaired by RtHon Nick Herbert, Minister for Policing, with presentations and contributions from Secretary of State, Jeremy Hunt and CEO's from BT and Cable and Wireless.
- Awarded Faculty Research funding award for 'Sole Searching'
- Invited to present Community21 and the Future Village project at The Rural Commission
- Invited speaker to National Rural Community Council Network Fieldworkers Conference
- Invited 'strategic partner' member of National Water Efficiency in Buildings Network
- Invited speaker at East and West Sussex Research Network of service providers (Councils, Policing and Health Provision)
- Received Gulbenkian Foundation funding for Future Village in association with Action in Rural Sussex
- Private presentation to with Neil Smith, senior civil servant in Office of Civil Society
2010
- Awarded Lottery funding for Den Building social engagement and co-design project
- Private presentation of Community21 to Charles Hendry, Minister for Environment and Climate Change.
2009
- Appointed to Arts and Humanities Peer Review College
- Awarded Business Fellowship to support ongoing research, economic and social engagement projects
- Awarded Capitol Activation Funding for The Thought That Counts Project
- Awarded Faculty Research Funding for The Thought That Counts Project
- Awarded School research remission
2008
- Treehugger feature article
- House of Lords Science and Technology Commitee I: Enquiry into Waste, Evidence Paper; p222 Chapman.j.a
- Awarded sponsorship and major commercial funding from REED PLC for 100% Sustainable exhibit and masterclass
- Invited keynote 'Redesigning Design' at 100% Design Industry seminar series.
"Definitions of sustainability are continuously debated by those in all areas of the industry to create a greener future; with the IF:Laboratory Nick Gant and Jonathan Chapman have embraced the debate and stoked the fire by asking what is 100% Sustainable? We were impressed how the IF:Lab created a stand out stand with a strong interactive element in the name of action research. The images were distinctive, thought provoking and gave an interesting insight into people’s perceptions of sustainability."
(Treehugger.com)
2007
- Awarded funding from Centre of Excellence in Teaching and Learning Through Design for 'product life Workshop'.
- Design Week feature, 18th September
- Article; 100% Sustainable? Gant.n.a, Chapman.j.a, New Design issue 54.
- FX, feature September
- TreeHugger feature article
"Architects and Designers are ahead of the curve when it comes to environmental and sustainable awareness, but education and information resources remain a key barrier to the de facto adoption of sustainable product design. 100% Sustainable? was designed and implemented by designers for designers. It spoke to designers in a voice they could understand and relate to, so demonstrating that sustainable design is both achievable and now the only option."
(Peter Massey, Director of '100% Design exhibition')
2006
- Major industry sponsorship for the development of the ‘100% Sustainable?’ project by REED PLC and Knowledge Exchange
2005
- Invited to Buckingham Palace to ‘A Reception for British Design’ hosted by Her Majesty The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh, to celebrate and ‘acknowledge the importance of Design to the economy and the life of the nation’
- Awarded the National Association of Charity Retailers National Design Award for the design of ‘The GreenHouse‘ sustainability, retail and education social enterprise project
- Invited by International Guitar Club on Behalf of Fender Guitars to design proposal for 50 years of the iconic Stratocaster Guitar.
- Awarded lottery funded income for GreenHouse project
- Bright-space feature in Habitat Catalogue, Spring/Summer
- Glo-nuts and Prismex table products feature in 'Brilliant' Book, Jane Pavitt, V&A
- Blueprint feature
- Materials for Inspirational Design – Plastics 2 (Book), Chris Leftrei, Rotovision
"Paper Thin Buildings - Flat-pack usually implies packaging and furniture made from rigid cardboard, wood or similarly inflexible materials. The structures designed by Nick Gant challenge this notion; they are produced from an ultra-thin lightweight PETG. Using a folded plastic sheet that is extremely thin (0.75mm), these incredible geodesic structures are rigid and self-supporting. The beauty of this design lies in the use of such a thin sheet on such a large scale without the need for an internal framework to support the sheets. Using thje principle of origami, which uses the inherent strength of fold to make three-dimensional structures the design explores the application of plastic in a new context. Another aspect that makes this project unique is that it eliminates the need to include glass in order to obtain total transparency in a building."
('Plastics – Materials for Inspirational Design' Book, Chris Lefteri, Rotavision 2006).
2004
- Awarded sponsorship for the development of the Bright-space geodesic building project by Eastman, Plastics Plus and Spectar TM
- Awarded sponsorship for the development of the Bright-space geodesic building project by Eastman, Plastics Plus and Spectar TM
- Consultancy to The Beatles to design major exhibition to present the 'Fab Fours' personal photographic collection and a representation of each recorded album in transparent materials
- Awarded funding from Design Council for 'DFutures' sustainability seminar and workshop
- Gioai feature, Autumn
- Elle Interior Design (Europe), November
- European Plastics News, Autumn
- Journal of Landscape Institute, November
- Materials for Inspirational Design – Plastics (Book), Chris Leftrei, Rotovision
2002
- Judge International Composites Design Competition, with Ross Lovegrove and Gijs Bakker of Droog
- Winner of the Crafts Council Bursary and major sponsorship by Perspex TM for Marriage of Materials project
- BoBo Frosted Glonut selected as the icon product to represent the 100% Design show and Independent Newspapers ‘Top 50’ lighting products
- Ongoing Consultancy to Ineos and Lucite International
- New Design magazine feature article, October
- Ottagano feature (Italy), September
- Frankfurter Allgemeine, Germany
- IDFX feature, June
- World of Interiors feature, February
- Frame feature
- Design week feature, September
"Nick Gant and Tanya Dean are masters of material manipulation. Having already received international acclaim for their progressive work with Perspex acrylic. They have teamed up with a group of multidisciplinary craft-based creatives in a bid to push the boundaries of materials practice even further. The juxstapostion of old and new is perhaps best seen in best effect in the convertible Skinned Prismex table designed by Gant and Dean. Combining the use of Perspex with a variety of traditional and contemporary materials and techniques has resulted in a selection of fascinating designs."
(Design Week, 19 September 2002)
2001
- Moebel Interior Design, (Holland) December
- Intramuros, (France) December
- The Independent, October
- The Guardian newspaper, Space supplement and Magazine
- Architectural Review
- International Textiles
2000
- Selected as best of show '100% Design 2000' by International Frame magazine
- Selected by the British European Design Group and the DTI to represent the British Contemporary Design Movement on the International Exhibition Circuit
- Ongoing Consultancy to Ineos
1999
- Designed features on the Lucite TM exhibition design for ISH; Winner of the Design Business Association Award for Design Effectiveness in association with Elmwood Design. Sponsored by BT and Design Week
- Major sponsorship from ICI for the V&A, Design Festival BoBo Installation
- Ongoing consultancy to ICI
1997
- Finalist Blueprint Design Awards for the Airwave Table – selected by Verner Panton
- Provided consultancy and creative work for The Beatles, Apple, The BBC, Science Museum, Natural History Museum, The V&A Museum, ICI, Ineos, Lucite International, Fender Guitars, Vivienne Westwood, Absolut Vodka, Vodaphone
