John Thackara (born 6 August 1951, Newcastle upon Tyne) is a British-born writer, advisor and public speaker. He is known as curator of the celebrated Doors of Perception conference for 20 years, which started in Amsterdam. He is a senior fellow at the Royal College of Art in London.
Biography
Early life and education
Thackara was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, England as son of Alexander Daniel Thackara, and Eleanor Hazel, née Miller. He attended Marlborough College from 1964 to 1969, and the University of Kent from 1970 to 1974, where he obtained his BA in philosophy. He continued his studies at the University of Wales Centre for Journalism Studies in the year 1974–75 obtaining his master's degree, journalism.
After his philosophy education and journalist training he worked for ten years as a book publisher and magazine editor. In 1993 he was appointed the first director of the Netherlands Design Institute, in Amsterdam. He was assisted here by deputy director Gert Staal. Thackara himself served until 1999.
Further career
In Amsterdam Thackara had initiated the Doors of Perception conference, which he kept curating from 2000 to 2016. He has been program director of Designs of the Time (Dott), the social innovation biennial in England.
He also curated City Eco Lab – the French design biennial. Thackara has curated place-based professional workshops – called xskools – in 11 countries. Further more Thackara has given keynote talks, and chaired international conferences, in 41 countries; he has chaired or served on professional awards juries in the US, India, and Europe.
Appointed a senior fellow at the RCA in 2011, Thackara is currently visiting professor at School of Visual Arts in New York, and an advisor to: Chora Connection (Denmark); Konstfack (Sweden); Cateran's Common Wealth (Scotland); The Nubian Vault Association (France); Unbox Festival (India); Upstarter (London); Participatory City (London).
Thackara once drove a London bus (routes 73 and 134). He lives in South West France.
Honors, awards and positions
UK Design Of The Year, Design Week, November 1995, for "T-Zone" exhibition
Webby Award (USA) 1999 Webby Awards, Peoples Voice Award, Art, for Doors of Perception website Recognition of Service Award, ACM Association for Computing Machinery August 2000, Co-Chair DIS'00 – Designing Interactive Systems 2000 Fellow, The Young Foundation, January 2004 Fellow, Musashino Art University, Japan: August 2008 Best Architecture Book of the Year, The Netherlands: deArchitect, December 2010 Top 10 architectuurboeken 2010 #01: John Thackara, Plan B ADI Design Index, Italy, Best Product of Italian design, 2010 ("I migliori prodotti del design italiano del 2009") "In the Bubble. Design per un futuro sostenibile" Umberto Allemandi & C., John Thackara, Pier Paolo Peruccio (curatore). ADI Design Index.Category "Ricerca storica, teorica, critica e editoria" Senior Fellow, Royal College of Art June 2011 Honorary Doctorate, Plymouth University, United Kingdom August 2015 "being a person distinguished in eminence and by attainments"
Personal
Thackara lives in south-west France with his wife, Kristi van Riet. His daughter, Kate Thackara, lives in London, where she is an art teacher.
Thackara's great great great grandfather was William Tecumseh Sherman (1820–1891) Commanding General of the United States Army from 1869 to 1883. His great great grandfather, Alexander Montgomery Thackara (1848–1937), addressed as "Mont" in family correspondence, married Sherman's daughter Eleanor Sherman (1859–1915) in 1880
Work
Thackara writes about live examples of what a sustainable future can be like with a special focus on social and ecological design. He has published online since 1993 at thackara.com and in books; his most recent title is How To Thrive In the Next Economy (Thames & Hudson 2015).
Early work experiences
From 1974 to 1980 Thackara worked as a commissioning editor in book publishing, first for Granada Publishing in the UK, and latterly for New South Wales University Press in Sydney Australia. During this time he was also the founder and editor (with Hilary Arnold) of Cheap Eats in Sydney.
From 1980 to 1985, on returning from Australia, he was editor of the UK Design Council's monthly publication, Design.
During 1985–1986, Thackara worked for two years as a freelance journalist. He was, inter alia, Modern Culture Editor, Harpers & Queen; Design Correspondent for The Guardian; Design Correspondent for The Spectator; and a contributor to the Late Show (BBC).