Dezeen Magazine

"Designers should be more entrepreneurial" - Tom Hulme at Dezeen Live

IDEO UK design director Tom Hulme advocates that "designers should be more entrepreneurial" and design every part of a business in this movie we filmed as part of the Dezeen Live series of discussions during the talks programme at 100% Design during London Design Festival.

"Designers should be more entrepreneurial" - Tom Hulme

Above: Marcos car racing against others

Hulme discusses the ideas that designers should be open and willing to collaborate, as well as using new platforms for promotion. "I'm always concerned when I see designers that are not prepared to put stuff out in the wild," he says. "In the past we were forced to cart around portfolios because the barrier to do anything else was enormous, but publications like [Dezeen] are giving people visibility."

"Designers should be more entrepreneurial" - Tom Hulme

Above: a bag Hulme designed for flip-flop brand Havaianas

"The tools are becoming accessible to be creative around how you sell stuff, marketing, branding. I think designers can do that like never before," he adds.

"Designers should be more entrepreneurial" - Tom Hulme

Hulme built a company around an engineering component he designed that is now used in Ferrari Formula One cars (above). He also shares the rest of his professional journey during the talk, from car brand Marcos where he found it easier to become managing director than designer, to working on new ideas for flip-flop brand Havaianas, and finally becoming design director of design consultancy IDEO UK.

"Designers should be more entrepreneurial" - Tom Hulme

Above: a design challenge set by IDEO with Jamie Oliver

Dezeen Live was a series of discussions between Dezeen editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs and a number of designers and critics that took place as part of the talks programme at 100% Design during this year's London Design Festival. Over the next few weeks we'll be posting all the movies we filmed during the talks.

The music featured in the movie is a track called Black Widow by east London band Strong Asian Mothers. You can listen to more of their music on Dezeen Music Project.