On Thursday May 9 the BABC partnered with Britweek San Francisco to host the first annual Britweek San Francisco Design Series, entitled, “Taking it Transatlantic.”

Held at the San Francisco Design Center in SOMA, the event featured a two part, moderated panel discussion celebrating the cross-currents between British and Californian creativity and innovation from architecture and design to technology.

The first panel focused on Architecture and Design, and featured Philip Wood, the curatorial and creative brains behind the international design and art brand, CITIZEN:Citizen, Kevin Hackett, lecturer of integrated design practice at CCA and the Academy of Art, and Abigail Turin, architect and winner of the RIBA 2010 International Award. The panel was energetically moderated by Adele Cygelman of Domain LA. 

Following a wine and cheese networking reception in the beautiful surroundings of the De Sousa Hughes showroom, the second panel took to the stage. Focusing on product design and technology, the panel was led by Tim Bradshaw of the Financial Times and featured Scott Summit, Director of Technology at Bespoke Innovations, John Stoddard, Senior Designer, leading product and service design projects at IDEO, and Paul Wylde, CEO and Creative Director of ‘paulwylde’, a brand, innovation and design consultancy. 

The event after-party was held just a couple of blocks away in the fabulous surroundings of Project 1, a bar and art gallery featuring dramatic works by British artists such as Adam Gale and Ben Eine. 

Many thanks to our generous sponsors and hosts – the San Francisco Design Center, De Sousa Hughes, McLaren San Francisco, and Project 1. We are also very grateful to UKTI for their support with this event. 

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

About Britweek

BritWeek is a series of events celebrating the unique relationship between Britain and California. Each year, BritWeek San Francisco showcases the best of British culture, cuisine, sports, the arts, design, technology, and more, as well as recognizing the contribution made by Brits living and working in the Bay Area. 

This year’s events included the Britweek Festival in Union Square, the BABC Young Professionals Britweek Pub Quiz, the Britweek Launch Party at the ACT, and the Britweek Ball in honor of Downton Abbey at the Palace Hotel. Find out more
here.