Brexit reaction – PDD features in newdesign magazine

Karsten Fischer – CEO at PDD, along with leading figures from across the industrial design industry offer their response to the result of June’s referendum on the United Kingdom’s membership of the European Union.

Karsten Fischer, chief executive of design consultancy PDD

“To put it simply, we are disappointed. As a creative consultancy founded in London more than 35 years ago, we have greatly benefited from access to the single market and freedom of movement. Many of our consultants come from the EU and a large share of our revenue is generated from EU customers. Therefore the outcome of the referendum is creating a lot of socio-economic uncertainty for us.

A comprehensive national debate must now take place as to how we will implement our departure from the EU. The Brexit campaigners failed to set out any policy details for leaving, so we still have an opportunity to influence the precise nature of the future relationship with our fellow European neighbours.

We are passionate about our home base London remaining a global design hotspot and the UK as a whole continuing to provide world-class academic training in creative disciplines. Retaining freedom of movement would ensure talented students and creative industry practitioners alike can continue to come freely to Britain and enrich our international design credentials.

The innovative products and experiences we create at PDD often transform the business models of our customers. Most of our clients operate across multiple geographies and require our teams to have a deep understanding of local cultures. We can only retain our highly-skilled, culturally diverse workforce if Britain remains an open society in a post-Brexit era.”

To read the full article from newdesign magazine, click here.