All Flows 2025 delivers creative magic in Milton Keynes

The boutique design festival’s third edition proved its growing reputation with intimate talks, fresh perspectives and meaningful connections.

The third edition of All Flows Festival has cemented its position as one of the UK’s most vital creative gatherings, delivering three days of inspiration, innovation and genuine connection in Milton Keynes last month.

What began as an ambitious idea has evolved into a festival that manages to combine heavyweight speakers with an intimate atmosphere that larger events struggle to match.

Co-founders Richard Wiggins and Simon Wright’s vision of creating “something truly special [on an] intimate scale” was evident throughout the event, held at the architecturally striking MK Gallery. In 2025, All Flows maintained its boutique character whilst delivering a programme that would make any major festival envious.

Opening with personal journeys

The festival’s opening set the tone perfectly, with Astrid Stavro, president of the International Society of Typographic Designers and a former Pentagram partner, taking audiences on an intimate journey from her childhood growing up around a printing press in Italy to her studies under Alan Kitching. Her talk exemplified her reputation for “elegantly stripping things down to the essential,” providing both personal insight and professional wisdom.

Data artist Tiziana Alocci followed with a provocative question: “Is ‘listening’ our most radical design tool?” Her exploration of transforming invisible data into poetic audiovisual installations demonstrated why her work with clients like the British Library and Wired UK has garnered such acclaim. Alocci’s ability to reveal “the hidden beauty in numbers and information” proved as mesmerising in person as her award-winning practice suggests.

Studio culture and creative process

Svet Lapcheva, executive creative producer at FutureDeluxe, offered a window into studio culture that emphasised experimentation and play. Her presentation reinforced the festival’s core message that innovation emerges from the process rather than just the outcome—a theme that resonated throughout the three days.

The vibrancy continued with MURUGIAH, the British Sri Lankan artist, whose candy-coated aesthetic, peppered with South Asian motifs, lit up the stage. His multi-disciplinary exploration of identity, psychedelia and cultural symbolism provided a fresh perspective on visual storytelling.

Mother London’s Tom & Derek posed the fundamental question “Is this a good idea?” through their approach to client briefs via provocations and questions—a refreshingly honest look at commercial creativity that sparked considerable discussion among attendees.

The opening day concluded with celebrated book designer David Pearson, whose reverence for “type, tactility and timeless design” was delivered with unexpected humour. As a Royal Designer for Industry whose typography-forward approach has caught the attention of Wes Anderson to Hermès, Pearson’s talk perfectly balanced gravitas with accessibility.

Local support and global perspectives

Friday’s programme opened with an address from Cllr Lauren Townsend, Deputy Leader of Milton Keynes City Council, underscoring the local authority’s long-term support for the event. Then, fresh from the OFFF Festival, Samar Maakaroun explored language as physical and expressive, weaving together drawing, typography and identity in ways that added considerable depth to conventional design thinking. Her fluid perspective demonstrated the festival’s ability to attract speakers who both challenge and inspire.

Seetal Solanki, founder of research design studio Ma-tt-er and author of ‘Why Materials Matter’, spotlighted her recent curatorial project with Jorge Parades for the Madrid Design Festival. Their work transforming olive roots salvaged from Andalucía’s olive oil industry into furniture exemplified her challenge to be led by materials—embracing imperfection and working with, not against, the inherent nature of things.

Artist Gemma O’Brien provided a masterclass in oscillating between analogue and digital approaches, mesmerising audiences with live sketchbook exploration and calligraphy demonstration, a reminder of craft’s enduring power in our digital age.

Abi and Rupert Meets from Rude shared their ongoing ‘I Am Creative’ project, a bold education initiative addressing the lack of creative career guidance in schools. Their rallying cry to the creative industries to “step up, fund, and help shape the future” provided one of the festival’s galvanising moments.

Sound artist and former Pentagram partner Yuri Suzuki delivered a presentation that spanned robot bands, Nokia ringtones, AI-generated choral performances in Margate, and culminated in a rousing blast from his Acid Brexit album, an acid house-inspired protest collection that perfectly encapsulated his boundary-blurring approach to sound and design.

The festival’s finale was presented by Liza Enebeis, creative director of Rotterdam-based Studio Dunbar/DEPT and co-founder of Typeradio.org. Her presentation included what many considered the event’s best slide: “Designing is like being in love; you overthink, obsess, can’t sleep—because you care too much.” It was a perfectly human note on which to end three days of creative exploration.

Beyond the main stage

The festival’s appeal extended well beyond its speaker programme. A creative business workshop led by executive creative director and author Radim Malinic provided practical insights, while the UK premiere of ‘Modernism, Inc: The Eliot Noyes Story’ offered a historical perspective on design’s evolution.

The creative marketplace buzzed with activity, featuring work from Supermundane, Atomic Studios, Playbound, Frances Szweda and the Pooleyville Bookstore. An intriguing pyramid installation by local agency Makilo—a nod to Milton Keynes’ iconic post-modern cinema The Point—became a conversation catalyst as attendees scanned and swapped second-hand books included in their welcome bags.

With four speakers already confirmed for 2026, including legendary photographer Martin Parr, The Dots founder Pip Jamieson, creative director Dines and artist/illustrator Rob Draper, All Flows’ momentum shows no signs of slowing. The festival has successfully carved out its niche as the creative event that prioritises meaningful connection over mere scale.

As one 2025 attendee reflected: “Exactly what you hope for from a design festival—fresh inspiration, meaningful conversations, and a little creative chaos. All Flows has a way of staying with you long after it ends. That’s the mark of something special.”

In an industry often criticised for its insularity, All Flows 2025 demonstrated that the right mix of speakers, setting, and scale can create something genuinely transformative, proving that you don’t have to be in London to access the best in design inspiration.