The View From Skew | May 2024
TL:DR Skew’s creative team shares their insights, inspiration and intelligence on everything design and branding.""
This month, in the View From Skew, we've shifted gears into road trip mode, mapping out the must attend design festivals and licensing events taking place this summer. Below, we've curated a list of events for fellow creatives working in design, branding, and licensing.
Skew’s summer road trip recs for design festivals
Date: 21st – 23rd 2024
The Licensing Expo, with over 40 years of history, connects influential entertainment, character, art, and corporate brand owners with consumer goods manufacturers, licensees, and retailers. It’s one of the biggest events in the licensing calendar and a great opportunity to network with others in the industry. MD of Skew, Oliver Dyer, will be representing our team. If you’re state side and would like to find out more about Skew you can book in a chat with Oliver here.
D&AD Festival & Awards, London
Date: 21st - 22nd May 2024
The D&AD Festival returns to London, featuring international speakers, interactive masterclasses, and award-winning work insight sessions. It aims to celebrate creative excellence, tackle industry challenges, and honour the best in global creativity with the D&AD Awards Ceremony. It’s perfect for designers from all walks of life and jam packed with interesting talks from the biggest names in the biz.
Clerkenwell Design Festival, London
Date: 21st - 23rd May 2024
Clerkenwell Design Week showcases the world’s leading interior brands with showroom events, exhibitions, installations, talks, and more, making it a must attend for anyone working in interior design or homeware.
Birmingham Design Festival, Birmingham
Date: 6th - 8th June 2024
Looking for something outside of London? BDF is an annual event based in the heart of the UK. Founded in 2017, the Birmingham Design Festival strengthens the city’s reputation as a design hub, featuring international designers and a diverse program of mostly free events, aiming to support and champion designers in the West Midlands.
Date: 27th June 2024
One of the newest additions to the licensing industry calendar, France Licensing Day & Licensing International Awards launched in 2023. The event is a collaboration between Informa’s Global Licensing Group and Licensing International France. This one-day expo aims to pack a lot in, including a full day of networking followed by an evening awards ceremony. 2024 exhibitors include Tour de France, Paramount, Universal and Warner Bros.
Date: 26th June - 7th July 2024
New Designers is an annual showcase of the UK’s emerging design talent, providing a platform for graduates to present their ideas to industry professionals and the public. The event spans two weeks, highlighting various design disciplines. Week 1 focuses on Fashion, Costume, Contemporary Design Crafts, Textiles, Ceramics, Glass and Jewellery & Precious Metalwork. Week 2 features Furniture, Product Design, Industrial & Spatial Design, Graphic Design, Illustration & Animation, Motion & Digital Arts and Game Design.
Children’s Media Conference, Sheffield
Date: 9th - 11th July 2024
The CMC is the UK's premier event for professionals involved in creating and distributing content for children across all platforms. It attracts delegates from film, TV, radio, interactive media, games, licensing, toys, publishing, the arts, and education. The conference offers a unique opportunity for industry-wide networking and sharing of insights and information. This year's keynote speakers will be musician, broadcaster and philanthropist YolanDa Brown and Creative Director of Cartoon Saloon Nora Twomey.
Date: 26th - 28th July 2024
Organised by Informa Markets, Licensing Expo Shanghai (LEC) aims to build efficient business connections between IP owners and agents covering multiple categories including anime images, film and television, museums, culture and art, online literature, entertainment, games, publishing, corporate brands, sports and more, with OEMs, ODMs, licensees and retailers.
Want to hitch a lift with Skew?
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Alternatively fast track your brands growth by booking onto our bi-annual one-day masterclass taking place on the 10th September 2024. Buckle up for this bespoke workshop where you'll be navigated by our expert team to steer through specific brand challenges and gain turbocharged insights along the way. Register your interest here to jump the queue for Autumn Haul.
