Paul Hughes
Partner
Lava
Paul Hughes is based in Amsterdam where he is a strategic director and partner of Lava, the creative strategic design agency. Since 2005 Paul has consulted with Design Machine in New York, a strategic brand building company run by Alexander Gelman, who has been called one of the ‘world’s most famous modern and contemporary artists in all media.’ Hughes is an active coach to people who interact with, or act within, this Creative Class on an individual and team level. Hughes is also a speaker and trainer on the subject of Unpacking the Creative Process. Creative processes need not be haphazard or questionable procedures; rather, creativity can become deliberate and effective procedures. This deliberate approach to creativity and innovation is captured in what he calls Design Thinking, a practical model that contains key principles behind any creative process. Hughes has interviewed many people within the creative field, including: Dr. Edward de Bono who is a leading international authority in the field of thinking skills, Stefan Sagmeister who has been called ‘one of the most influential people in design today’ and Michael Young who was called ‘the grandfather of Social Entrepreneurship.’ Additionally, Hughes speaks on the subject of what makes Dutch Design so unique. He believes that it is not individual designers nor their productions that makes Dutch Design unique but rather it is the connections between them. Hughes has been a visiting lecturer at a variety of institutes in Europe and worldwide, including: School of Visual Arts New York, Parsons School of Design New York, New York University, The Fashion Institute of New York, University of Arts Vilnius (Lithuania), The National College of Art and Design Dublin (Ireland), Hojer College of Visual Communication (Denmark), Bergen National Academy of the Arts (Norway), University of Science & Technology Islamabad (Pakistan), Kyoorius DesignYatra Goa, (India), Ain Shams University (Egypt), Hallo Academy (Holland), Willem De Kooning Academy (Holland), and Eindhoven Design Academy (Holland).

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