Clive van Heerden

ISEA2009

Senior Director of Design-Led Innovation at Philips Design. One of his main responsibilities in this role is leading the Probes program, which consists of ‘far-future’ research initiatives that aim at identifying long-term systemic shifts and anticipating changes in future lifestyles. Examples of recent Probes projects include Electronic Tattoo, Emotional sensing Dresses and Sustainable Habitat 2020.
Clive joined Philips Research in 1995, where he was tasked with bringing designers into a technical research environment. He moved to Philips Design in 1998 to become Director of the Soft Technologies design research activity. In this role he put together a team of experts from various textile and apparel disciplines, developing wearable electronic and conductive textile solutions and overseeing collaborations with other companies. Clive has also managed Philips Design branches in Redhill, New York and London. While at University in South Africa Clive obtained two degrees in the social sciences. In 1986 he moved to London, where he completed a research fellowship at Westminster University. He gained two further degrees in the social sciences before graduating in 1991 with a Masters degree in interaction design from the Royal College of Art in London. Clive and the Probes team have won various design awards for innovative research, including a ‘best of the best’ red dot award and a Time Magazine Best Invention award in 2007.