Ashley Hall is Deputy Head of the Department of Innovation Design Engineering at the Royal College of Art where he is first-year Programme Director, Head of research students and experimental design, and runs the GoGlobal project. He is also a Partner and Director of Diplomat design consultancy. His is actively researching a number of fields through design practice and acadmeic publications. He has also been a visiting lecturer at universities in the UK, Australia, China, Ghana, Japan, Korea and Norway.
Ashley Hall studied furniture design at Nottingham Trent University and the RCA, receiving his MA in 1992. He then worked as a furniture, product, lighting and interior designer for a variety of design consultancies and manufacturers. He established his own company in 1994, which was followed by the formation of Diplomat with Matthew Kavanagh in 1999 whose clients include some of the top furniture brands. Current work includes designs for mass production and an experimental line of furniture using new materials and technologies.
Ashley’s academic appointments have included his roles as module leader in innovation strategy and innovative materials at the University of East London, lectureships at the University of Salford, Ravensbourne and Grays School of Art in Scotland. He has lectured and run interdisciplinary cross-cultural projects in China, Japan, Thailand, Korea, Norway, Australia, India, Mali and Ghana.
He now directs IDE research, MPhil/Doctoral programmes and the GoGlobal project. He also manages the experimental design strand that he initiated and developed to explore fundamental innovations led by experimental design thinking for a wide range of outputs, from new materials and technologies and product applications through to the future of making, sustainability and social enterprises.
Ashley has initiated and developed department consultancy projects, summer schools and student modules with Unilever, P&G, communication device mutations with O2 mobile, social innovations in telecommunication devices for Hutchison Whampoa/3 Mobile, vehicle interior innovations with Ford Europe, experimental new aircraft fuselage designs with Airbus Industries, a Space Hotel with iGuzzini, Thales Alenia and Elmar and integrated domestic transport energy systems with Sharp solar and McLaren.