Three partners, each an acknowledged leader in their field, have come together to create a new kind of consultancy, focussed on innovation in the area where design and materials technology intersect. As technically literate designers, we make it our business to track developments in new materials and processes, and maintain a good knowledge of contemporary and traditional technologies -- all with the aim of enabling design-driven, problem-solving innovation in sectors that include consumer products, transportation and built environment. Our clients range from government agencies to international corporations.
background: fashion design and textiles central experience: product colour and finish most recent: colour, materials and design innovation Missoni, Browns, Debenhams, Texxus, Barron Gould
background: retail design central experience: visual effects in polymers most recent: materials and process innovation Texxus, Barron Gould
background: industrial design engineering central experience: product design most recent: product innovation, digital manufacture Hollington Associates
Each of the three partners in BGH works as a consultant in his or her specialist area of innovation and design: materials, products or colour and finish... but together they focus on opportunities in the place where these separate disciplines come together, where design-driven technological innovation and problem-solving are required. In a typical project, BGH will team with a technology partner — usually a private or academic research and development group — to develop and implement a design and technology solution. Businesses and organisations are under intense pressure to create products, vehicles and structures that are lighter, more efficient, lower in cost, employ sustainable resources, have low levels of embedded energy and have sustainable end-of-life solutions. The materials supply chain typically responds slowly, inefficiently and inconsistently to these pressing needs. In contrast, the partners in BGH, with their extensive materials industry network and years of experience in design-driven materials and process innovation, are often able to design and develop unique and innovative solutions to these problems and needs
The three partners of Barron Gould Hollington have each made substantial contributions to their fields and helped clients succeed through innovation John Gould, through the Texxus consultancy, developed and implemented technology that enabled the Diana Memorial in London’s Hyde Park to be built from solid granite using exclusively digital design and manufacturing technology. Linda Barron, working with John, developed a global colour and materials strategy for Motorola mobile handsets, that involved not just trend forecasting, colour design and materials selection, but also polymer colour and effects formulation right through to the production of standards plaques and specifications for use by Motorola’s design teams worldwide. Geoff Hollington, working with Herman Miller in the United States, developed the first mobile, flexible, loose-fit workplace furniture system — initiating a trend towards more informal planning and design in offices. John Gould developed UCATS, a revolutionary polymer colouring and effects technology, where traditional pigments or dyes are replaced by primary-coloured micro-spheres distributed in a transparent polymer body material — in a technique analogous to colour printing. Linda Barron, over a period of years, guided the international DuPont company through a succession of innovative steps in colour, material and finish design evolution, in its carpet fibres and Corian divisions. Geoff Hollington, through innovative, cutting-edge product design, working with Linda and John on colour and materials, enabled Kodak cameras to gain massively improved market acceptance in European and Far Eastern markets. And in a similar way, the team have created several highly successful products for the Parker Pen company, worldwide.
Working with private and public-sector clients, these are some of the problems that the BGH partners are currently solving through innovation in materials and design > How can we make silica-based building components that are carbon-neutral, have low embedded energy, and employ exclusively local materials? Would these novel materials and processes allow new design freedoms and more sophisticated component designs? > If rapid prototyping techniques are to be applied in the consumer domain, to make real products; we need plastics-based materials that are attractive, colourful and durable, but very few exist and they are very expensive. > Healthcare associated infections (HCAIs) — bugs caught in hospitals — are a national problem and higher standards of cleanliness appear to be the best front-line defence. Healthcare equipment must be super-cleanable: what are the design principles for cleanability, and best materials for construction; how can they be optimised? > An ambitious development in a desert region will employ traditional mud brick construction; how can the strength, durability and design flexibility of this material be improved? > How can a major player in oral care improve product performance and desirability through innovative combinations of materials, processes and design?
In parallel with innovation consulting for clients, the BGH partners also pursue funded and selffunded research and development on the frontiers of design and manufacturing innovation. > John Gould is currently running two advanced manufacturing projects, developing digital, flexible tooling techniques for the three-dimensional forming of large metal and plastic panels — for transportation, marine and built environment applications > Geoff Hollington is investigating the implications for engineering and design of the move to toolless digital manufacturing, where parts and assemblies are fabricated directly from digital data. He speaks, writes and broadcasts on this topic and recently published a paper entitled Design 2.0
Linda Barron and Geoff Hollington are Design Mentors to the Materials and Design Exchange sector group within the UK government-funded Materials Knowledge Transfer Network (Materials KTN). In this role they encourage and facilitate collaboration between the design and materials science communities.
Geoff Hollington’s radical design for hospital patient bedside amenities, sponsored by the National Health Service as part of the Design Bugs Out initiative, was launched in London on 28 April 2009. The design was developed with manufacturer Herman Miller International; with materials research by John Gould and colour and finish design by Linda Barron. The caddy, plus an over-bed table, are designed to reduce healthcare associated infection risk through improved cleanliness and by encouraging changes in patient, staff and visitor behaviours.
BGH
5 Delancey Passage
Delancey Street
London
NW1 7NN.UK
+44(0)20 7387 7295
Linda@barrongould.com
www.barrongouldhollington.com