Fiona Chautard

Fiona is a designer, coach & creative business consultant who has been involved in the design, fashion and textile industry for over 25 years. As a creative business consultant, she works with businesses & individuals on their business & design development, which includes digital marketing, trend forecasting, manufacturing and retailing. In 2012, she founded and established Fashion Foundry, a sector specific designer fashion and textiles business incubator & talent hub for designers in Scotland, funded by Creative Scotland. The programme focuses on accelerating the growth of talent in fashion and textiles for the apparel sector in Scotland, with a specific focus on the international luxury goods market.

She is the consultant industry adviser for fashion, textiles & retail at Textiles Scotland, Cultural Enterprise Office, Fashion Foundry and Emergents Makers where she advises & mentors creative businesses & individuals. She also serves on advisory boards at Caledonian University, Emergents Makers and Craft Town Scotland.

Eva Arrighi

Glasgow School of Art graduate Eva Arrighi joined the fledgling Sunday Herald Magazine in 1999 as a picture researcher. In 2001 she was appointed as the Sunday Herald’s Lifestyle Editor with responsibilities for the editorial fashion, interiors and market pages content. In 2009 she became Group Fashion Editor at the Herald and Times Group with a remit to provide fashion editorial content across all three titles based in Glasgow, The Herald, Sunday Herald and The Evening Times.

Nana Hughes-Lartey & Matt Collins – Spectre Creative

The future of the web and applications will be human centered. This was Nana Hughes-Lartey and Matt Collins’ vision when founding Spectre Creative back in 2014. At Spectre Creative, a design and development house from Glasgow, founded with the sole purpose of understanding and enhancing the way in which connection is made between people and digital. They strive to put the user first when designing experiences and interfaces for modern web and devices. Founded in 2014 by two Scottish graduates with the belief that the digital experiences could and should be ‘user friendly’. They enthusiastically design websites and applications for startups companies, social businesses and enterprise level clients. Using research to drive understanding of people and businesses Spectre develops this information and apply it to the design of digital products that benefit businesses and their customers.

James Jefferson

James Jefferson, chief creative officer and co-founder of creative agency Equator, is a true multi-channel creative. Having started his career in product design, James quickly found his feet in the digital creative arena, and has since championed the use of digital and design working hand-in-hand. In 1999 he co-founded Equator on this ethos, which has since grown from three people working in a room to over 170 employees working across the world. His work was acknowledged, and in 2012, James was given a seat on the board of governers of the National College Creative Industries. This college represents an innovative model of open, employer-led education that’s revolutionising the opportunities for young talent to gain the right skills to thrive in the creative sector.

Benedetto Bordone

Benedetto is a Creative Entrepreneur and Multi-Disciplinary Designer. He grew up with a love of fast, Italian, red automobiles and fulfilled an early childhood dream by graduating with a Master of Design in car design before going onto work in Italy for prestigious design studios – Alfa Romeo, Honda Advanced Design and Stile Bertone. In 2012 he set up the loft as a design and branding agency which pushes the limits of creativity, quality and service in its sector. The company was set-up with assistance from The Prince’s Scottish Youth Business Trust (PSYBT) and now brings ideas to life for organisations from every walk of life including high-growth companies, consumer brands and even government. Benedetto regularly says ‘Design With Soul,’ is more than a company tagline, its a way of life.

Alexandra Mancini

A lawyer by profession, Lex worked in Sydney before relocating from Australia to Scotland in 2014. In the following year, Lex founded the Young Directors Forum of the Institute of Directors (Scotland) of which she currently Chairs, now also encompassing IoD 99. She is a Senior Marketing Manager for Navitas, a leading global education provider and a Patron / Ambassador of a number of Scottish charitable organisations.
Lex is passionate about ensuring that every young person is aware of their full potential and has the confidence and access to support they need to succeed on Scotland’s global platform. She is an unwavering advocate of the huge opportunities and endless possibilities Scotland has to offer intrapreneurs and entrepreneurs alike.

Chris Hunt

Chris Hunt launched the Glasgow Design Collective in 2006 and in 2012, he took the project national, launching Scotland Re:Designed. Delivering an infrastructure for the fashion, accessories, textiles and interior design industry in Scotland, Scotland Re:Designed develops skills, collaborations, events and logistics in a series of consumer and trade showcases, specialising in taking micro-businesses to SME status. Scotland Re:Designed’s annual showroom calendar champions Scotland’s fashion, textiles and interior design sector, enabling one-to-one skills mentoring and workshops; attended by top buyers, media and industry figures from around the world.

The showcases have taken Scottish talent to London, New York, Chicago and most recently, Hong Kong. Chris has worked with designers at widespread events including LFW, the Tea Building in Shoreditch and other ventures with artists and designers such as Timorous Beasties, Jonathan Saunders, Jim Lambie, and Christopher Kane. Chris works behind the scenes advising, showcasing and mentoring in the creative sector whilst also running Genuine PR, an international PR & events agency.