The dean of Central Saint Martins (CSM), A art university in London, Jeremy Till, visited the School of Architecture of the University of Navarra in the act of opening the course. He stared the conference by saying, “Trends”, where he then started to debate about design and projects from some of his design students.

The Teacher, that directs one of the best school of art and design in the world, has been awarded three consecutive times with the Prestigious “RIBA President Award for Outstanding Research”; Thus becoming the only academic to achieve this. 

Last Friday the 23 of September, Jeremy Till attended to the presentations of the first projects from the 47 students in the Design degree of the school.

There is a question that seams simple and is important in the subject that we are dealing with: What is design?

Simple! This is not a simple question … in a basic level, design it to take something and changing it into something better. Designing is necessarily an act of transformation.

Why is it important to train good designers?

Well, the bad designers transform the objects into something bad. Its true that designing is not to convert object into something beautiful, instead its to understand and transform what one understood. The students have to be conscious of the world and understand it. I like pretty things, but I think it’s  more important that they capture the needs of society.

Talking about the needs of Society, Architecture and design have similar disciplines, but what is the difference?

Its complicated. you can design a chair thats tall, short, confortable, less confortable. There are lot of different chairs in the world, but they all have the same function. A building is much more compatible. In it, what is interesting is the relationship of the elements, which you can not control, but can find.

In the school of Architecture and Design there are creative students that look for new and original ways to express themselves, what can they offer to society?

It is very important to listen to them. In a school like this, or in other Design schools, Fantastic ideas come up every day. The problem is when they get stuck on one idea and it dose not continue to be elaborated. I am optimistic. I think that people have very good ideas and it is important they share them. They should not impose them, but do share them to make the world a better place.

On that end, how can we think in a creative way in our  day to day?

People have to believe that thinking creatively can make life better. Sometimes they don't trust that they are able to do so. Thats why, it’s interesting to see how design helps us express ourselves and provide a material form of ideas. We can all deign in one way or another.

The University of Navarra has opened up to design with a new degree in our school. One of its great references is the Central Saint Martins school, of which you are the dean. What is your objective?

The Central Saint Martins objective is that the students be as good as they can be. A good design school should not have one style. A good design school has to be the expression of the voices of those who work there. The teachers must provide students with the space, confidence and skills they need to develop their talent.