Selection committee

SELECTION COMMITTEE  

JOHANNA AGERMAN ROSS
Conran Foundation Chief Curator, Design Museum (DK/UK) 

Johanna Agerman Ross is the newly appointed Chief Curator at the Design Museum in London where she oversees the museum’s exhibition programme. She was previously curator of twentieth century and contemporary furniture and product design at the Victoria & Albert Museum. During her seven years at the museum she curated the new permanent gallery Design 1900-Now and launched the new initiative Make Good: Rethinking Material Futures, looking at the use of renewable and sustainable materials in design and architecture. She also co-curated the touring exhibition Plastic: Remaking Our World with colleagues at Vitra Design Museum, V&A Dundee and maat Lisbon. Johanna is originally from Sweden but came to London to study at London College of Fashion and the Royal College of Art. She founded the international design journal Disegno in 2011, which she edited for five years. She is still Disegno’s director. 

MADDALENA CASADEI
Designer & Art Director (IT) 

Born in Forlì, with a degree in architecture from Ferrara, a master’rs degree in design from the Domus Academy and experience in Sweden and the United States, she was James Irvine's right-hand. To date, she has her own studio in Milan and is involved in product design, exhibition design, as well as art direction. Her design approach is the result of continuous interaction and exchange with all project stakeholders. She prefers chorus to solo. She teaches, as a guest professor, at several universities including ECAL University of Art and Design in Lausanne, Switzerland. 

MAX FRASER
Editorial director, Dezeen (UK)

Max Fraser is the editorial director of Dezeen, joining the team in March 2023. During the previous two decades, Max has worked as a design commentator across digital media, books, magazines, exhibitions, video, and events to broaden the conversation around contemporary design and architecture. He is the author of multiple design books including Design UK and Designers On Design, which he co-wrote with Sir Terence Conran. More recent titles include the London Design Guide series and monograph titles about designers Piet Hein Eek, Luca Nichetto and Benjamin Hubert. As a journalist, Max has worked as a design correspondent for CNN Style and written for publications including Financial Times, Wallpaper, Icon, Surface, London’s Evening Standard, and Newsweek International. He has worked as a content consultant for companies and organisations across the world and worked as the deputy director of the London Design Festival from 2012-2015. 

MARIE HESSELDAHL
Design Director, +Halle (DK)

Marie Hesseldahl (34) was trained as an industrial designer in Denmark and Hong Kong. Today, she is the Design Director at Danish Furniture Brand +Halle. Hesseldahl has extensive experience in collective design practice, through years of working in the industry, both with own design projects as well as a Design Manager for Danish Design brand Muuto. For Hesseldahl the most crucial phase of creating good furniture today, is the study of people’s activities and behaviors in a given space. Observing moments, discussing narratives and applying behavioral insights into a collective design process are main ingredients in +Halle’s ‘Annual Briefing Method’, where the aim is to develop new designs (sometimes even new typologies), supporting emerging behaviors and needs; helping people focus, work more efficient or relax in ways they desire. 

JANNI VEPSÄLÄINEN
Creative director, Iittala (FL)

Janni Vepsäläinen, Creative Director at littala, is known for her avant-garde mindset. Constantly in motion, she refuses to stand still, drawing inspiration from art and culture in their diverse forms. In her hands, creativity becomes a celebrafion of playfulness and the unconvenfional, and beauty is found when breaking free from the ordinary. Janni was appointed as Iittala‘s Creafive Director in 2023. Since then, she has steered the brand into a bold new era, reinforcing its commitment to artistic innovafion, design excellence, and the artisanal heritage that defines littala. She earned her BA from the Lahfi University of Applied Sciences Institute of Design, Finland, and her MA from the Royal College of Art, London, UK. The Royal College of Art is one of the world's most influential postgraduate institutions of art and design. Prior to her role as Creative Director at littala and returning to her native Finland, she served as Senior Knitwear Designer for JW Anderson in London.