Design Week Hot 50 October 2004

Scarlet Projects

If there’s a slightly off-beat event going on in UK design and architecture then you can be sure that Scarlet Projects has had a hand in it. The consultancy set up by Sarah Gaventa and Claire Catterall four years ago plays a broad, but key support role on projects, but it is also an initiator.

This year’s successes include the Clerkenwell Design Trail, which formed part of the first London Architecture Biennale and relives elements of the old Designers’ Saturday. Gaventa and Catterall also masterminded the Victoria & Albert Museum’s Village Fete at the end of August, bringing the public into contact with design and architecture in a fun way.

But the duo has also curated exhibitions, published books and organised one-off events, with the aim of bringing contemporary architecture and design to a wider public audience.

Gaventa and Catterall both studied design history at the Royal College of Art in London and have been cultural ambassadors ever since. Before they joined forces Gaventa had worked on the media side of the Royal Institute of British Architects and was communications head on the Glasgow 1999 City of Architecture and Design project under the direction of Deyan Sudjic. Catterall worked at the Design Museum and curated the RCA’s centenary exhibition, among other things.