OBSERVER TEDx MARCH 10

I really enjoyed sitting down being entertained for a day.  The element of surprise, the emotional impact and mix of different contents are intoxicating in a way that most design events are not. Here the sheer variation was heart-warming.  Alvaro Restrepo, his childhood re-enacted as a silent dance, produced his band of Colombian street kids out of the dark.  These highly-skilled dancers gave me the first buzz of the day with a series of evocative scenes. Accompanied by Buskaid Soweto’s string ensemble, this magical collaboration made me feel the world coming together from different corners, bringing welcome escapism.  Then, dancing psychologist Peter Lovatt transferred feeling to our bodies getting us to dance in our seats.  [make link better] If that is possible imagine what you can do in a kitchen?

Miguel Torres, Spanish MD of the eponymous company, told us how his wine company was going to make wine an eco-drink.  I can go on drinking the stuff and feel good about it!  Next on the agenda was optimism, with Tali Sharot explaining how we have loads of this for our families but not for the state, an explanation for the way pessimism enters public life so easily.

Dance and music made the harrowing but brilliant speaker of the day, Giles Durley and his mutilated body, bearable.  Plan B, the white rapper was blunt as well as formidable in his analysis of disaffected youth.  Was he there for his music or his message?

Local TEDx are less corporate than their bigger brothers, and at £65 instead of $5000 per head, more democratic too.  If T stands for technology, E entertainment and D Design then E dominated through music and dance.  John Mullholland, the Observer editor, was truly superb as the announcer and comic interlude.  Thank you to every speaker for a really well-designed day.

For live video footage:   http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL880EAF3F736F99AC

LIVE IN LONDON SERIES

The small and stylish Pimlico café Tomtom is the venue for my first ‘kitchen conversation’ with anyone who wants to come along. This is an idea I’ve had for some time, waiting to put into action. I’ll bring my laptop and tell some stories and we can explore the idea of the happy kitchen, listen to a few grievances and think together how to turn them to advantage. You’re most welcome to bring photos and tell us what make houses special. Coffee, tea and later wine will be served.

When I recently met Tom Assheton, proprietor of Tomtom (I designed his kitchen some years ago) he suggested hosting such an event. Café conversation, characterized by a openness possible with strangers, was one reason for the success of new public meeting spaces in the 17th century, coffee houses, exemplified by Pepys and his Covent Garden room upstairs.  Today we have many neighborhood cafés but don’t use them for the relaxed exchange of ideas.  My idea is to recreate that spirit with a hosted conversation to get people talking together on a topic of mutual interest.

As space is limited please call to register at Tomtom 020 7730 1771 or email info@johnnygrey.com.  Time and place: 4.30 pm 20 March 2012, Tomtom’s, corner of Ebury and Elizabeth Streets SW1, cost: £15 at the door.

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Those interested in the tradition of café sociability and authors who have written on it should check out this USA booklist: http://www.richmondactiondialogues.com/books.htm.  A favourite of mine is The Third Space by Ray Oldenburgh, which even gave a name to a political movement, The Third Way.  Seattle is a place where this is happening, as you can see on http://www.conversationcafe.org/host.htm.