Birmingham School of Architecture at Birmingham City University is hosting a Talking Cities lecture later today (Wednesday 2nd March) presented by Richard Weston, Professor of Architecture at Cardiff University.

Using the latest digital technologies to capture the microscopic wonders of minerals and rocks Richard is pioneering unique new forms of architectural glass, fashion fabrics, ceramics and woven rugs. In his lecture he will illustrate the range of imagery he has explored and their applications to scarves (available exclusively from Liberty of London), ‘frocks from rocks’ and interior and architectural design.

The process of how the scarves were selected were selected for Liberty of London and their development from mineral, through manufacturing in Como and eventual launch in July last year is traced through a new BBC2 Series ‘The Next Big Thing’ to be broadcast on 29th March at 8pm.

“The images that emerge when we scan at high resolution are incredible,” said Richard. “Many look like works of art – something commented on in a leading French fashion blog – and launching them in Liberty was always my dream, given the store’s roots in the Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau.”

The lecture will also trace connections to ideas explored by John Ruskin, Gottfried Semper and Adolf Loos, and illustrate the possibilities by reference to a new, as yet unpublished house, by Patel Taylor in Camden and the project for his own house and studio. To be built on a site in Sully near Cardiff, he sees this as a ‘gentle polemic’ for a new synthesis of ‘the regularity of architecture and the particularity of nature’.

The lecture will take place in the Emma Jessie Phipps Lecture Theatre at Birmingham Institute of Art and Design (BIAD), Gosta Green, Birmingham, on Wednesday 2nd March at 5.30pm. For the full list of lectures and booking information, please visit http://www.made.org.uk/events/ and http://kathrynmoorelandscape.tumblr.com/

Richard Weston’s talk is one of a series of 13 lectures, entitled The Art of Design: Materiality and Ideas which are taking place over the coming weeks at BIAD. The series is hosted by Birmingham School of Architecture at Birmingham City University in association with MADE, the architecture centre for the Midlands.

The Next Big Thing is presented by Theo Paphitis of ‘Dragons’ Den’. The 7-part series traces the development of new products for Liberty, Habitat and Boots. It begins with Liberty’s second ‘Best of British Open Design Call’: the brainchild of Ed Burstell, the charismatic American brought in as Head of Buying (now Managing Director), it was held in February 2009 – a sort of ‘X-Factor for design’ that saw 800+ hopeful designers queuing round the store from 6.30am.