Great British Design

Great British Design

Welcome to this special edition of FUSED Magazine where our focus has turned to ‘Great British Design’.

There is no doubt that 2020 has been a difficult and challenging year for the majority of business sectors and so we are grateful that there are still many creative individuals, businesses and organisations have been able to continue to flourish.

One thing that can be relied upon across the creative industries is the innovative solutions and approaches to challenges; and our friends across the industry have risen to the occasion this year. We know that when things get tough, people get creative.

At FUSED we have been excited to see how companies, organisations and freelancers have dealt head-on with the global pandemic. From the call to arms to help the NHS with muchneeded PPE; to keeping people entertained during lockdown; and not forgetting those who have pivoted their businesses to deal with delivering projects and products with the added issues of social distancing, capacity limitations and movement restrictions.

As a magazine that enjoys unearthing emerging trends we are of course keen to see how the UK design industry will fair in the coming months. for International Trade (DIT) has spent the last 24 months showcasing design talent and increasing international collaborations.

DIT sits as at the heart of the UK government and helps overseas companies, investors and buyers successfully do business in and with the UK.

The UK’s design industry is one of the largest in the world, and is at the global forefront of

Images: Top left - Kate Dawkins Studio, above - Morag Mysercough, below - Andre Fu

innovation. Creative firms in the UK are two times more likely to have introduced new products to the market as businesses in other sectors, while the creative economy has consistently been the fastest growing sector in the UK for two decades, delivering over GBP 100 billion to the economy.

None of us quite knows what the future holds, but in this issue we remain optimistic and share the brilliant work of our peers. Morag her colourful collaborations to cities around the globe; the BAFTA winning Kate Dawkins Studio have produced one of their biggest projects to date; poly-sensory experience design creatives Bompas & Parr set up their first international studio in Hong Kong; and UK Business Ambassador for the

Myserscough continues to bring creative industries Sir John Sorrell shares the news of new online exhibition Design in an Age of Crisis. We all understand the devastating issues the pandemic has had and the lives it has changed, but we hope, that as we move in to the next decade, we can rely on Great British Design to help us through - whatever that might look like.