THE FUTURE PERFECT COMPANY
The Future Perfect Company supports and promotes creative businesses and has a focus on ageing through its flagship student design project, Designing for the Future.
Founded by former lawyer, Philippa Aldrich in 2009, the company has run the Designing for the Future project for hundreds of UK design students and supported many graduates and start up creative businesses through the DFF Network.
Blog contributor publishes first book
We were delighted to hear that Howard Croft, an early contributor to the former incarnation of this blog, has just published his first book. Howard's hugely enjoyable and often irreverent insights into the world of retirement ran on an almost weekly basis for several years. Howard went on to write over 250 articles for the Malton and Pickering Mercury, his articles continuing to take a quirky, usually amusing, view on all things local, medical, literary, political, family, canine and international. "Howard's Way" is a collection of a little over 100 of the articles from the first five years of Howard's work for
Going back to the drawing board
In the new year The Future Perfect Company will be changing. Gone will be the shop and instead the emphasis will shift to “Designing for the Future”. And here’s why. When I opened the shop 6 years ago, it was an attempt to focus on the ageing market. I was in my late 40s and after a legal career in the City was wanting another challenge. I didn’t have far to look. Around me my family and friends’ lives were changing in ways we had not expected. Whilst we had anticipated our older family members’ deaths, many of us
SEEFA & AGE UK
Peter Dale from South EastEngland Forum on Ageing (SEEFA) was one of our Designing for the Future judges this year and Philippa was delighted to be asked by him to join the AGE UK and SEEFA Policy Panel on Later Life and Ageing at the stunning Royal Air Force Club in London in November. SEEFA and Age UK have joined forces with the aim of bringing people together to influence later life strategies, policies and services in order to make life better for the current and future generations of older people. The focus of discussion was on what businesses need to be doing
Designing for the Future tackles dementia and smart technology
This year’s Designing for the Future Competition invited students from the University of Brighton’s College of Arts & Humanities to develop innovative new products and design concepts to benefit people affected by dementia. A parallel project with students studying product design investigated smart technology. In each case, students were encouraged to produce design outcomes which were desirable, supported real areas of need and inspired new approaches and attitudes. 2016’s joint winners are Elicia Oliver-Knox (BA Design & Craft) and Eli Heath (BSc Product Design). Elicia’s winning product is a multi-sensory, memory-sharing book to help residents during the transition from home
Art inspires Brighton schoolchildren
Jack Durling windsocks Children from Balfour Primary School in Brighton had special inspiration from an art collection from the University of Brighton when they created their own works for this year’s Open Houses Festival. Specially selected items from the Aldrich Collection of Contemporary Art were installed at the school in a mission to bring children closer to the experience of seeing and understanding art. The children then responded to the art, creating their own gallery of works, which was open to the public as part of the Festival. For many children this was their first time so
Catching up with some of our talented DFF alumni
We are always excited to find out to hear from our talented Designing for the Future alumni and find out what they are up to. Chloe Meineck, designer of the Music Memory Box will be showcasing her work at this year's Alzheimers Show at London's Olympia on 10-11 June. Chloe has also joined the Design Together, Live Better project. This new online platform aims to connect citizens (patients, carers, family members, friends or anyone interested in health) with companies and entrepreneurs to co-create new healthcare solutions based on real needs. 2013 runner up Jack Durling has just finished a community