Global Design Forum Panel to Explore the Power of Design and How It Impacts Mental Health, Featuring Alter-Projects Founder, Anne-Laure Pingreoun

On Wednesday, 16th September 2020 Anne-Laure Pingreoun, founder of Alter-Projects, will host the panel “State of Mind: the Intersection of Design and Mental Health” at the Global Design Forum during London Design Festival 2020. Together with her guests Lucie Cave, Editorial Director of Bauer Media, Ben Channon, Head of Wellbeing at Assael Architecture, Dr Elizabeth Lindsey, National Geographic Explorer, Dr. Layla McCay, Director of the Centre for Urban Design and Mental Health and Andrew Shapiro, Executive Creative Director at popular meditation app Calm, the panel will explore the power of design and its impact on mental health, how we can integrate health and wellbeing into design, and how creatives and designers can protect their own mental wellbeing.

The creative industry is made of individuals who channel their emotions, sensitivity, and feelings into their work. When such personal traits are on the first line, it can sometimes be hard to define the boundaries of how far we can push ourselves. As a curator, Pingreoun started thinking about the stigmas built around mental health, especially in light of the current pandemic, and the damage it causes individuals in communities like her own, the creative industry, where this issue is often suppressed. Her goal with the panel is to address that topic in a way that is genuine in its approach to help raise awareness through the powerful platform of the Global Design Forum, with a clear call to action.

This will be the first time the Global Design Forum will broach the subject of mental health in the creative industry. The panel consists of bright thinkers from different backgrounds, with different horizons, who have raised awareness about mental health in their own practices by expressing what they have been going through and proposing practical solutions to help with the issue. As well as asking the speakers to talk about their experiences, topics that will be dealt with range from what is currently being done and what should be done to improve mental wellbeing in the creative community, how can architecture and design improve mental health in our daily lives, and how can we help people find answers.