Summer at The Wharf
Made by Many & Friends, including OK COOL, Digital Frontier, illustrators Mr Bingo and Paul Davis, Stripe Partners, Nic Roope and more, are hosting a two-day festival that just so happens to coincide with SXSW landing in London.
Summer at The Wharf is a two-day event that is part-talks, part-party, set in the heart of London’s creative quarter at Diespeker Wharf.
Across Friday 6th and Saturday 7th June, we’re opening the doors to our studio and canal-side courtyard for a relaxed gathering of designers, technologists, cultural explorers, future obsessives, and friends.
Friday 6th June
Why are we breaking up with algorithms? A panel hosted by Stripe Partners
They once helped us connect, with culture, with others, with ourselves. But now, they demand constant feeding through clicks, likes, and ever more data in exchange for the promise of relevance.
This panel will get into how we got here and what it would take to build more human, sustainable relationships with algorithms.
Hosted by Cath Richardson, with a brilliant panel of thinkers and makers: Iveta Hajdakova, PhD., Karl Humphreys, Jemma Ahmed.
Gen Z are not a demographic. A panel hosted by OK COOL
This panel will take aim at every lazy take you’ve heard about Gen Z. Hosted by Eliza A. and Jacob Stratfold, this panel will see OK COOL’s resident Gen Zs quiz and grade an expert panel of strategists, creatives and makers: Jolyon Varley, Annie House, Mia-Ella Collins, and Eliza Power - plus a surprise creator from the wilds of the internet.
Come along if you’d rather hear directly from Gen Z than read another report about them.
Everything you know about games is wrong. A panel hosted by David Lilley
The video games business has fundamentally changed in the last couple of years.
David Lilley hosts a panel of industry luminaries including Dr Michael Cook, Bhavina Jennings and Michael French to dissect what's happened and how AI can affect the landscape in the future.
Why Tech & Innovation are Key to Unlocking a Flourishing Circular Economy. A panel hosted by Nicolas Roope
Hear from hear from three founders building the infrastructure, platforms, and strategies needed to turn circular principles into real, scalable business models.
The session will be hosted by Nicolas Roope, creative technologist and founder of Plumen, Poke, and the Lovie Awards, and features Kate Walmsley, Co-founder of Tern Circular and Safia Qureshi, founder of Clubzero.
Decoding Digital Identity. A talk hosted by Digital Frontier Magazine
This session will explore how digital identity shapes the way we present ourselves online and how that, in turn, influences how we experience the physical world.
Jonathan Stein and Sophia Epstein from Digital Frontier will unpack the layers behind a term we’ve all come to use, but rarely stop to question.
Saturday 7th June
Irreverent ink: art, absurdity, and the beauty in profanity. An exclusive fireside chat with illustrators Mr Bingo & Paul Davis
This exclusive conversation will delve into their creative processes, artistic influences, and the evolving landscape of illustration in today's world.
Moderated by a special host, this candid dialogue promises both laughter and reflection as these masters of visual wit reveal the thinking behind their most memorable works. Don't miss this rare opportunity to witness two of Britain's most distinctive artistic voices in conversation.
The Creative Intelligence Revolution: How AI is Redefining Design Strategy. A talk by Dan Witchell at Koto
Dan Witchell, Executive Creative Director at global brand design studio Koto, reveals how AI is reshaping the creative process at one of the world's most celebrated brand design studios. From rapid concept generation to data-driven decisions, he shares candid insights from Koto's AI experiments and offers exclusive behind-the-scenes glimpses of how brand intelligence influenced their monumental Amazon rebrand.
Afrofuturism & AI: inclusive digital futures. An interactive talk hosted by Kojo C. Apeagyei
This interactive session explores how Afrofuturism, both as a cultural movement and critical framework, can help us reimagine AI systems that are often anything but neutral.
Hosted by the award-winning responsible AI consultant Kojo C. Apeagyei who will help us explore how Afrofuturism can reframe the way we design and deploy AI.
Designing the extraordinary. A magical talk by Rubens Filho
What if work didn’t just work—but wowed? This energising session invites you into a world where learning becomes an experience, transformation feels magical, and teams don’t just change, they evolve.
Blending theatrical magic (yes, real magic) with powerful facilitation, Rubens explores how we can intentionally design extraordinary moments that ignite growth, belief, and connection.
