Cross Pollinator Project
London Design Festival 2025
Date: 21 September 2025
Time: 1300-1700
Cost: Free
Location:
arto'tel London Hoxton
In partnership with
Multidisciplinary Portfolio Review Workshop
These one-to-one in-person 20 minute review sessions are open to students to early-year professionals and practitioners. This can be suitable for architects and creatives that want quick professional feedback on organizing their pieces, their content, presentation formats, ideas to improve, or guidance to develop ideas. Take this opportunity to ask questions about entering a new creative market, learn about a different industry, ask about other design methodologies, or understand your own creative similarities. We believe creativity is not bound to one profession rather an ecosystem where collaborative thinking can foster new ideas. Perhaps there are personal projects you are working on—book designs, art installations, photography works, etc. This can be your chance to present it to the reviewers.
Portfolio required and we recommend a sample of 10 pieces to bring to the workshop for review.
*Priority will be given to students
Format
The workshop consits of presentations, portfolio reviews, and a networking session. Each participant will have the opportunity to receive 2 reviews from different reviewers. An email will be sent with a full itinerary prior to the workshop.
Participants
Students to early-year creative practitioners interested in gaining feedback on their work.
Tickets
Registration is essential with limited spaces. After registering you will be asked to send samples of your work to an email provided. Be sure to secure your space early as we may not be able to accept everyone once we sellout. If we do we will keep you on a waiting list for the next immediate opening.
Venue
arto'tel London Hoxton
1-3 Rivington St.
London EC2A 3DT
www.artotellondonhoxton.com
art'otel London Hoxton is London's boldest new hotel opening in the effortlessly cool and creative Hoxton neighbourhood. Fusing art, design and hospitality, the hotel features a destination restaurant, a bar with live music, an Art Gallery, auditorium, sauna, steam room, gym and pool.
It is located in the creative Shoreditch district of London, at the intersection of Old Street and Great Eastern Street. Main entrance is through the Brush Grand Cafe. Nearest Underground Station: Old Street.
Reviewers
Rafael Portillo (Architecture)
Founder Artificial Kreativity, UK.
Rafael founded Artificial Kreativity as a design-led architecture studio merging technology, art, and architecture, with the aim to advance society. With his studio, he is supporting the creative community with the Cross Pollinator Project. It aims to make architecture and creative professions accessible to everyone while exposing students to the profession through a multi-disciplinary approach. For over 10 years, he has reviewed portfolios for architecture candidates applying to Cornell University’s architecture school in New York. Prior to launching his studio, he worked with Zaha Hadid Architects. His career spans over 18 years of designing iconic buildings at multiple scales ranging from cultural buildings, FIFA stadiums, masterplans, commercial retail, and private residential designs. Key projects comprise Pierres Vives, Chartres Parc des Expo, Symbiotic Villa, and Diyar Town Center Masterplan. He has presented at the RIBA Symposium Kuwait 2019 and exhibited in Rome and Athens. Design interests stem from music, art, landscape, fashion, creativity, and technology. He is a native of Los Angeles, received his BArch from Cornell University, MArch from the Architectural Association, and was on the board of trustees with London Play.
Maria Loreto Flores (Architecture)
Associate Director at Zaha Hadid Architects, UK.
Chilean-born architect, Maria Loreto, manages multi-disciplinary teams that specialize in complex geometries and construction for projects in Asia, Europe and the Middle East. She focuses on large scale projects comprising masterplans, towers, expos, and convention centres. Built work includes the luxury Morpheus Hotel in Macau, China; Pierres Vives, France; and d’Leedon Residential Complex, Singapore. She is part of the steering committee of Women in Architecture UK and previously taught workshops and design studios at the Universidad de Chile. She has been a visiting critic in architecture schools in both Chile and the UK including the Architectural Association and Bartlett at UCL.
John Walford (Fashion)
Co-Founder| The Fashion Scout, Graduate Fashion Week, UK
John is one of the most experienced fashion show producers delivering in over 28 countries. He is the co-founder of The Fashion Scout and Graduate Fashion Week which have been responsible for launching the careers of some of the most successful designers. John has always had an interest in developing new ideas and concepts, seeing fashion not as a stand-alone entity but an interesting synthesis of fine art, literature, architecture and film. This reflects his past experience working with Vivienne Westwood, Romeo Gigli, Manish Arora, and many other international designers. Other work includes helping develop Shanghai Fashion Week, Shenzhen Fashion Week, lecturing at universities both in the UK and abroad, and helping the British Council promote British Fashion Design and British Fashion Design Education overseas.
Iga Weglinska (Design)
Body-Tech Designer, Poland
Iga Weglinska is a multidisciplinary body-tech designer with a background in fashion and industrial design. She produces experimental wearables that function as emotional tools and posthuman communication devices. Her work is situated within fashion-tech, neuroaesthetics, and human-computer interaction. This includes cross-disciplinary R&D projects in wearables, smart materials, and digital fabrication.
As a PhD researcher and academic, she is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Design, Academy of Art in Szczecin, Head of the Fashion Design Department, and leads the Fashion Design Studio in both BA and MA programs. She also teaches as an Associate Lecturer at the School of Form, SWPS University in Warsaw.
Her works have be exhibited globally and has been published in Dezeen, Designboom, LS:N The Future Laboratory, WGSN, Promostyl, Numero Netherlands, Vogue Italia, I-D Italia, Elle Poland, Glamour Poland, and KMAG.
Krzysztof Golinski (Design + Media Art)
co-founder panGenerator, Poland
panGenerator comprise Krzysztof Cybulski, Krzysztof Golinski, and Jakub Kozniewski. Their projects integrate modern digital media with unconventional spatial forms and engaging interaction – bridging the worlds of bits and atoms. There work has been showcased gloablly at major design and art festivals, including Ars Electronica, SXSW, KIKK Festival, Milan Design Week, Dutch Design Week, Warszawska Jesien, WRO Media Art Biennale, Lodz Design, and many others.
Awards include the Golden Lion at the Cannes festival, Lumen shortlist, an Honorary Mention at Ars Electronica, and the “Paszporty Polityki” in the Digital Culture category. In addition to their artistic endeavors, the group is also involved in educational activities including workshops, and teaching postgraduate Creative Coding courses at the School of Form. They have also led the Guest Workshop at the Faculty of Design at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts.
Claudia Tschunko (Architecture)
Associate Director at Arup, UK.
With over 21 years of experience Claudia currently leads the UKIMEA (UK, India, Middle East, Africa) architecture department at Arup. Her work reflects complex and large-scale developments, masterplans, and high-profile projects both local and international. Key projects include the Design Museum, Belgium; 1-5 London Wall, Finsbury Circus, London; 60 Threadneedle Street, London; Battersea masterplan; and the Astra Zeneca HQ, Cambridge, UK.
Prior to joining Arup in 2019 she worked for Eric Parry Architects, Carmody Groarke, and offices in Stuttgart, Germany. With an interest in building re-use she has led the publication of a CIRIA guide for the reconfiguration of existing buildings. She is a native of Germany and studied Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Stuttgart, Germany.
Guest Presentations from our Cross Pollinator Alumni
Karolina Dworska (XPollinator24)
Contemporary Artist (Textile Art), UK
Karolina is a London-based contemporary artist whose multidisciplinary practice explores dreams, mythologies and liminal fantasy spaces, with desire and longing being at the core of her work. Dworska works in rug-making and other textile mediums such as machine knitting to create her vision.
Contact Information
For any questions concerning this workshop please contact Artificial Kreativity with the link below.
Support Us
We are making this event accessible to everyone and not charging admission. If you would like to contribute to offset the costs, please click on the button below.