What matters to you matters to us
Common Matters is our event series that unites the creative community, through the matters that matter to us all. And for the eleventh edition, we’re heading to Brooklyn.
Join us on Wednesday, October 7 at the Music Hall of Williamsburg. There’s no set topic to stick to, or strict theme to exist within. We simply ask world-class speakers, “what matters to you?”
Common Matters Speakers & Host
Your Host: Alex Center, Founder of CENTER
Alex launched award-winning branding agency CENTER in 2018, after a decade at The Coca-Cola Company as Design Director on vitaminwater, Powerade and smartwater. Today CENTER works with icons like Apple, New Balance, Adobe and Coinbase, breakout startups like Kin Euphorics, Magic Spoon and Liquid Death, and brands built from scratch such as Riff, Ayoh! and Bero. He mentors on the SVA Masters in Branding program and co-hosts the podcast Front & Center.
Alex Tan, Co-Founder and Partner at Mouthwash Studio
Talk: “Everything is falling apart right on schedule”
Alex Tan is a Co-Founder and Partner at Mouthwash Studio, where he serves as Creative Strategy Director. With a background spanning art direction, narrative storytelling, and cultural strategy, Alex believes context is the most valuable asset in bringing creative ideas to life. His work centers on building coherent brand worlds – helping companies like Nike, Seed, The North Face, and Fender translate belief into lasting, meaningful experiences.
From photography to AI, every major technological shift has pushed designers to question what they make and what remains uniquely theirs, and the instinct is usually to defend familiar skills and definitions. This talk argues that design history favours the people who help shape their discipline’s next form, and that the most valuable thing to carry into an uncertain future is a willingness to reinvent yourself.
Lisa Smith, Global Chief Design Officer at Uncommon Creative Studio
Talk: “Change Before You Have To”
With over two decades shaping some of the world’s most recognized brands, Lisa embeds design at the core of business – from identity and communications to immersive brand worlds. Previously Global ECD at JKR and ECD at Chobani, she has led transformative rebrands for Walmart, Burger King, Coca-Cola, Mozilla, Uber, Paramount, The Met and more — redefining how global brands show up in culture.
A former Cannes Lions and D&AD Jury President, and current President of the Board of Trustees at D&AD, Lisa continues to influence the future of creative leadership worldwide.
Change has shaped Lisa’s life, the people she surrounds herself with and the work she’s most proud of. Because comfort creates average, and in a world drowning in more of the same, standing still might be the biggest risk of all.
Eddie Opara, Partner at Pentagram
Talk: “We Used to Own the Future”
Eddie is a multi-faceted designer whose work brings together strategy, design and technology, from brand identities and packaging to exhibitions, interactive installations and software. After time at Imaginary Forces and 2×4, and running his own studio, he joined Pentagram’s New York office as partner in 2010.
His clients include Mellon Foundation, Nubank, lululemon, Samsung, SFMOMA, the Studio Museum in Harlem and SOM, and his work sits in the permanent collection of MoMA. He’s also a senior critic at the Yale School of Art, serves on Canva’s Designer Advisory Board, and has twice been named one of Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business.
Designers once shaped what came next through movements and critical thought, and have since given that up to data, clients and best practices. Eddie’s challenging us to take it back.
New York, see you soon
If you have any access needs for the night or questions, please email news@itscraft.com and we will help you.
