Our top five design podcasts

The popularity of podcasts shows no sign of slowing down in 2021, once the reserve of the dedicated commuter, the ubiquity of podcasts has evolved to encompass everyday life on a myriad of levels, acting as a potent lifeline to the outside world during lockdowns. 

We've brought together our pick of some of the best design-centric conversations out there, offering in-depth discussions with some of the industry's brightest minds...

On Design

The On Design podcast brings you insightful conversations with design's most inspiring figures—from designers, artists, editors, creative directors, entrepreneurs and everybody in between. This podcast offers an opportunity to understand what inspires them, how they work and how they see the world.

Guests range from Patagonia's Associate Creative Director, Levon Sharrow discussing design with a purpose to illustrator, artist and designer Emily Forgot on optimism, memories and functional art and Monocle's editor-in-chief, Andrew Tuck diving into one of his favourite topics – urbanism. 

The Modern House Podcast

On The Modern House Podcast guests are asked to pick their three favourite homes from anywhere in the world; anything from a Modernist masterpiece to a ramshackle hut in a field. The carefully curated line up includes architects, artists, designers, entrepreneurs and editors – people who have a great eye and share a passion for beautiful living spaces.

Amongst the episodes, designer Faye Toogood reveals her affinity with the Bloomsbury group’s flamboyance, Sri Lankan modernism and California’s mid-century design legacy, Rosa Park, founding editor of Cereal magazine, reveals her love of Bath’s limestone buildings, the unique style of her family home - and why you'd better not call her a minimalist and Simon Allford, co-founder of international architecture practice AHMM and future RIBA president, talks architecture, homes and the power of ‘everyday buildings’.

Face to Face

Face to Face is a new podcast by Dezeen, the world's most popular and influential architecture and design magazine and is sponsored by Twinmotion. Hosted by Dezeen's founder and editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs, the series features conversations with the biggest names in architecture and design about how they got to where they are today.

Delve into an array of episodes including a conversation with architectural designer, John Pawson, who recounts his brief spell as a Buddhist monk, how Calvin Klein changed his life and explains how minimalism helps calm his "untidy mind"; architect Thomas Heatherwick discusses his childhood fascination with engineering, his distaste for architectural discourse and how he completed his first building while still a student, or listen to artist, designer and director, Es Devlin, talk about her seaside upbringing, maverick student years and meteoric career. 

Material Matters

Hosted by writer and critic Grant Gibson, Material Matters features in-depth interviews with a variety of designers, makers and artists about their relationship with a particular material or technique. 

Guests include artist and designer, Stuart Haygarth, who talks about working with waste and his obsession with collecting things that other people throw away, Benchmark co-founder, Sean Sutcliffe, sharing how his love of timber began as well as host Grant taking the occasional break from the self-imposed format to meet someone with an overview of the design world including Sir John Sorrell CBE who discusses a life in design.

Clever

Clever is a podcast about design, its universality and the human beings behind the design world - visionaries, problem-solvers, critical thinkers, rebels and aesthetes. Designer Amy Devers has candid and revealing conversations, relating to the humans responsible for the objects and environments that shape our lives.

Episodes include industrial designer, Edward Barber, charting his childhood in a small UK village and his love of sailing, fixing boats, and photography, former CEO of Design Within Reach and business consultant, John Edelman talks being a hustler and daredevil from an early age, growing up as the youngest of six on a horse farm in Connecticut and potter and home decor mogul, Jonathan Adler, reveals how he found refuge from a tortured adolescence in clay and the potter’s wheel, and then how getting out from behind the wheel engendered a personal creative explosion.