Virgin Galactic designer set to deliver talk to Scottish students
Nick Talbot, director of product design consultancy seymourpowell, who designed the interior for Virgin Galactic’s first private spaceship, is set to conduct a design masterclass and hold a lecture to design students from across Scotland.
Talbot will also deliver the inaugural lecture in a series being supported by the Design Council, at Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, where he will argue that the future is a ‘pull’, not a ‘push’.
He will also explain why he thinks that the future is largely a self-fulfilling prophecy fought here and now by people who started earlier than their competitors.
Talbot’s most high profile project to date saw him design the interior of the world’s first private spaceship, to be launched by Virgin Galactic. He has also led the team that created the ‘Aircruise’ concept for Samsung – a hydrogen-powered luxury airship aimed at providing the ultimate in serene air travel and was responsible for heading up the largest industrial design project ever undertaken by his agency – the £3 million interior and exterior development of Midland Mainline / Bombardier’s Meridian class 222 trains.
Professor Julian Malins, director of c4di, commented: “Predicting the future has always been somewhat hit or miss. Watching TV programmes when I was growing up in the sixties had me convinced that one day we would all be travelling to work by personal jet-pack. Sadly it has not happened yet. However, designers like Nick are actually designing our future today. Finding out how he goes about doing that will provide some real insights into how business can use design to develop the innovations of the future.”
The lectures are being run by the University’s Centre for Design and Innovation (c4di) beginning on Wednesday 16 March at the Marcliffe of Pitfodels.