I visited London for the first time in late September 2013 and I was lucky to be there for the British Council's Design Connections programme during London Design Festival. The main theme of the Festival was “Design is Everywhere” - and it was absolutely true! I was impressed by the wealth of design showcases, talks and exhibitions happening throughout the city over the nine days of the Festival. Inevitably, many events happened at the same time, but the programme included visits to most of the places at the top of my list: Victoria & Albert Museum, Design Museum, Southbank Centre, Design Council, Zaha Hadid Architects, It’s Nice That, Barber & Osgerby and Heatherwick Studio, among others.

The programme also included a visit to the Design Council, which helped me have a better understanding of the British design industry as a whole. I was fascinated to hear about the Council's history, from the 1940s to today, having evolved from an advisory body to a provider of goods and services. It's impressive how the UK aims to inspire the best use of design and apply design policy to improve the prosperity of the British economy but also in order to improve wellbeing. This philosophy and methodology was very motivating to me.

A couple of years ago I attended the Business of Design Week in Hong Kong - I sat in the front row to watch a lecture by Thomas Heatherwick lecture, which was the favourite at the symposium. Visiting Heatherwick Studio during Design Connection in 2013 was like a dream come true. Personally, I couldn’t quite believe I was there standing in the Studio listening about all their projects. The idea of moving architecture, such as the rolling bridge in Paddington, is brilliant. Also, the UK pavilion at the Shanghai Expo in 2010 was one of my favourites of all time.

During the programme, I also aim to find designers to invite as speakers for a project I’m working on called CU2014, an annual creativity and design symposium in Bangkok. After visiting many studios, I finally met the perfect match: Edward Barber. Barber & Osgerby is a design strategy led studio. All of their projects are based on extensive research and on a human centered design methodology. After having been to the studio, I realised that the London Olympic torch and the Top Ton chair, which both seem very simple in terms of their form, in fact, are the result of a complex design process which makes them look simple and functional.

Every design festival has its uniqueness, which reflects their local culture and the development of their own countries. Overall, visiting London Design Festival has helped me have a better understanding of the British design industry. I no longer wonder why London Design Festival is one of the top design festivals in the world – it has strong roots in culture and based on partnerships, focused on economic development and design policy that can be applied to improve our quality of life. The model of London Design Festival is very motivating and I hope Thailand will have a chance to host a memorable design festival that reflects Thai culture so strongly as well soon.

Nuttawee Tangnoi is Senior Design and Creative Business Development Officer at Thailand Creative & Design Center (TCDC). Nuttawee was one of the international delegates who took part in last year's Design Connections, an annual industry networking programme run by the British Council. Taking place during The London Design Festival, it offers directors and curators from design museums, centres and festivals around the world an inspiring and immersive introduction to the best of the festival, alongside meetings with leading designers and organisations.