SPEAKING OF: SYMPOSIUMS
2024 – Ongoing

Speaking of: is maker's recurring design symposium in Copenhagen, exploring questions within design, sustainability, or community. Since launching in 2024, the series has brought together leading voices from academia and industry for focused conversations on the issues shaping how we design or create.

Each edition looks at the different views of practitioner, industry and research, opening up new perspectives on the role design plays in shaping the world around us.

Join to hear new ideas, meet the people behind them, and take part in conversations that challenge and expand your own thinking. Whether you come curious, critical, or creative, Speaking of: is a space to reflect, connect, and be inspired alongside others working at the edge of design.

Upcoming symposiums

Past symposiums

Past editions of Speaking of: have explored themes including Design Ethics, Textiles, and Food Systems. Each unpacking how materials, production, and systems shape the way we design.

Across these symposiums, we've brought together designers, researchers, and practitioners working at the intersection of craft, industry, and sustainability — among them Søren Pihlmann (Pihlmann Architects), Marion de St Blanquat (Studio Coquille), Dehlia Hannah (Blackout: A Manifesto), emerging designer Mads Barfod, Sara Diaz (Hilo Textiles), and Kirsti Reitan, alongside organisations like Slow Forest Coffee, Endless Food Company, and Eat Wasted.

Together, these conversations have shaped an ongoing exploration of circular practices, material innovation, and alternative production models, grounded in real-world experience and experimentation.

Speaking of: Gendered Design
September 24, 2026

In this edition of Speaking of:, we asked what changes when gender is taken out of design — and what happens when the design challenge is inherently gendered to begin with. Three speakers, working across fashion, product design, and research, join the conversation from three different angles.

Speaking of: Resourceful Creation
May 17, 2026

As part of Material May in collaboration with Danish Design Center, the symposium explored resourceful creation, working with existing and limited materials as a starting point for design.